urinal
English

Etymology
From Middle English urinal, urynal, orynal, from Old French urinal, orinal (“vessel for urination”), from Latin ūrīnālis (“urinary: related to piss”). Use for plumbing fixtures attested from 1851.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yo͞o-rīʹnəl, IPA(key): /juːˈɹaɪnəl/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (US) enPR: yo͝orʹĭn-əl, yûrʹĭn-əl, IPA(key): /ˈjʊɹɪnəl/, /ˈjɝɪnəl/
- (General Australian) enPR: yo͝orʹĭn-əl, IPA(key): /ˈjʉːəɹɪnəl/
- Rhymes: -aɪnəl
Noun
urinal (plural urinals)
- A device or fixture used for urination, particularly:
- (historical medicine and alchemy) A glass vial used for examining or storing urine.
- (obsolete) A chamber pot specially designed or considered as a device for urination.
- (obsolete) A device for urination worn by patients suffering incontinence.
- A plumbing fixture intended for standing urination, typically by men and boys.
- (chemistry, obsolete) Any oblong glass vessel shaped like the old alchemist's urinal.
- (obsolete) A room or structure used for urination: a latrine; an outhouse; a lavatory.
Synonyms
- (chamber pot): See Thesaurus:chamber pot
- (fixture): See Thesaurus:toilet
- (room or structure): See Thesaurus:bathroom
Derived terms
Translations
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Adjective
urinal (not comparable)
- Synonym of urinary
- 1892, R. Harvey Reed, “How Can We Control the Privy Vault Nuisance?”, in Gilbert I. Cullen, editor, The Cincinnati Medical Journal, volume VII, number 4, Cincinnati, Oh.: M. A. Spencer & Co., pages 130–131:
- If on the other hand it is to be used by a congregation, which as a rule, only occupy their church once, twice or three times a week, then I would suggest where it can be obtained that an improved “water closet” be used, and by this I mean a urinal and fecal basin, which can be kept clean by liberal flushing with water after each time it is used, and so trapped and ventilated as to absolutely protect the room in which it is placed from any contamination whatever. […] This same closet can be arranged for urinal purposes by having the lid of the seat for each person attached to a hinge so that it can be raised up when desired to be used for micturation[sic] only.
- 1903, In the Supreme Court of the United States: The State of Missouri vs. the State of Illinois and the Sanitary District of Chicago, pages 2504–2505:
- Q. What amount, in cubic feet, would there be in Port Huron for one year, of fecal and urinal discharge into the sewers?
- 1975, G. D. Bubenzer; J. C. Converse, Impact of Freezing and Thawing Soil Conditions on the Movement of Nutrients by Water from Rural Lands:
- Urinal and fecal wastes were placed in runoff boxes at the base, midpoint and top of 20cm snow packs. The units were subjected to carefully controlled temperature fluctuations ranging from 8 to 12 degrees C. Urinal losses were determined primarily by the quantity of water which passed through the manure layer. Fecal nitrogen losses were much lower than urinal losses.
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References
- "urinal, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary (1926), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for urinal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)
Danish
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Late Latin ūrīnāle, neuter of ūrīnālis (“pertaining to urine”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /urinaːl/, [uɐ̯iˈnæːˀl]
Inflection
neuter gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | urinal | urinalet | urinaler | urinalerne |
genitive | urinals | urinalets | urinalers | urinalernes |
French
Further reading
- “urinal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /uʁiˈnaːl/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -aːl
Adjective
urinal (no predicative form, strong nominative masculine singular urinaler, not comparable)
Declension
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | — | — | — | — | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | urinaler | urinale | urinales | urinale |
genitive | urinalen | urinaler | urinalen | urinaler | |
dative | urinalem | urinaler | urinalem | urinalen | |
accusative | urinalen | urinale | urinales | urinale | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der urinale | die urinale | das urinale | die urinalen |
genitive | des urinalen | der urinalen | des urinalen | der urinalen | |
dative | dem urinalen | der urinalen | dem urinalen | den urinalen | |
accusative | den urinalen | die urinale | das urinale | die urinalen | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein urinaler | eine urinale | ein urinales | (keine) urinalen |
genitive | eines urinalen | einer urinalen | eines urinalen | (keiner) urinalen | |
dative | einem urinalen | einer urinalen | einem urinalen | (keinen) urinalen | |
accusative | einen urinalen | eine urinale | ein urinales | (keine) urinalen |