vespasienne

Etymology

From French vespasienne.

Noun

vespasienne (plural vespasiennes)

1. A public street urinal in France.
   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, p. 171:

     Pia loves Rob, she had written it with her lipstick on the walls of the vespasienne in the Rue Colombe, waiting for him to finish, holding her pampered borzoi on the leash.

Etymology

Originally colonne vespasienne (“Vespasian column”), from Vespasian, the Roman emperor who introduced a tax on public lavatories.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛspazjɛn/

Noun

vespasienne f (plural vespasiennes)

1. urinal (in street)

Further reading

• “vespasienne” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).