Dictionary

Urinal of the Planets en · PROPN

Etymology

In allusion to the frequent rainy weather.

Meanings

1. (UK, derogatory, obsolete, qualifier:thieves' cant, rare) Derogatory name for Ireland: an island and country in northwestern Europe.
   • A writer on British slavery later explained that the denigration was deserved because Ireland's wet climate made her “The Urinal of the Planets.” (For a similar Irish slur on an Englishman, see twiss.) 2008, Robert Hendrickson, The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, Facts on File:
   • 'I thought you would have preferred to have been with them in that stinking urinal of the planets, looking for bog-oranges.' Kempe's sympathy towards the plight of the Irish was well known, and he had no sympathisers here tonight. 2015 April 18, Graham Sutherland, Conspiracy of Fate, Knowle Villa Books, →ISBN:

Forms