pissing post

English

Noun

pissing post (plural pissing posts)

  1. (now historical) A cylinder-shaped public urinal, formerly used as a site for posting public notices. [from 17th c.]
    • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
      “I thank you for your good will, my dear,” answered the patient husband; “you would promote me to the honour of being a pissing-post."
    • 1999, Mike Mitchell, translating HJC von Grimmelshausen, Simplicissimus, IV.7, Dedalus 2016, p. 302:
      Only a month ago I was admired by princes, adored by women, idolised by the common people, and now I was a nobody the dogs used as a pissing-post.
    • 2011, John Sutherland, How Literature Works, page 55:
      They pasted the bills on the doors of taverns and houses, and on pissing posts provided for the convenience of those who walked the streets.
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