Dictionary

motorman's friend en · NOUN

Meanings

1. A device strapped to a person's leg to enable urination without the use of a restroom.
   • In past filibusters, senators had relied upon “the motorman's friend” (a long tube attached to the waist and running down the inside of a pants leg) when they had to empty their bladder but could not leave the floor. 1999, Lee Edwards, The Conservative Revolution: The Movement that Remade America, page 151:
   • When necessary I relieved myself in a version of the old “motorman's friend,” proving once again that there is no dignity in television. 2012, Dan Rather, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News:
   • Older trolley drivers also developed urinary problems and some had to resort to “the motorman's friend," a urine collection tube and bottle that was strapped to the leg. 1989, Joshua Benjamin Freeman, In Transit, page 14:
   • The system used for urination was a version of the time-honored 'motorman's friend', so called because the hose-and-bag unit was worn by the streetcar motorman, whose job gave him little opportunity for a rest stop. 1994, Cecil Adams, Ed Zotti, Return of the Straight Dope: Still More from the Popular Newspaper Column, page 33:
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see motorman, friend.

Forms

Relateds

urinal · urine bottle