Defecate

Posted by R. Berg on December 14, 2002

In Reply to: Defecate posted by Bruce Kahl on December 13, 2002

: : Is the phrase "take one's ease" a euphemism for defecate?

: I have never heard it used like that here in the NE part of the USA.

: V. WORDS RELATING TO THE VOLUNTARY POWERS; INDIVIDUAL VOLITION
: III. VOLUNTARY ACTION
: 1. Simple voluntary action
: Leisure.

: [Antonyms: haste.]

: [Nouns] leisure; convenience; spare time, spare hours, spare moments; vacant hour; time, time to spare, time on one's hands; holiday (rest) [more]; otium cum dignitate [Cicero], ease.

: [Verbs] have leisure; take one's time, take one's leisure, take one's ease; repose [more]; move slowly [more]; while away the time (inaction) [more]; be master of one's time, be an idle man.

: [Adjectives] leisure, leisureIy; slow [more]; deliberate, quiet, calm, undisturbed; at leisure, at one's ease, at a loose end.

: [Phrases] time hanging heavy on one's hands; eile mit Weile.
:

"Take one's ease" might be an archaic euphemism for defecate. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the phrase "to do one's ease," marked obsolete and defined as to relieve the bowels. "Easement" is also defined as "the relieving of the body by evacuation of excrement" (obsolete), with the phrase "to do one's easement."

Defecate Peter Brown 12/16/02