retromingent

From A.Word.A.Day email newsletter.

retromingent (re-tro-MIN-jent) adjective

Urinating backwards.

noun

An animal that passes urine backwards, e.g. raccoon.

[From Latin retro- (back) + mingent, stem of mingens, past participle of mingere (to urinate).]

“When my turn came, I discovered that the bathrooms had been designed for a retromingent. The rest of the flight? Rather uneventful.''

Jeffrey Levine; The Concorde, Firsthand: Built for Speed, Not for Comfort; The Washington Post ; Dec 17, 1989.

“I can verify that camels are, indeed, retromingent.''

Sally Bixby Defty; Just Deserts Midnight at the Oasis Sing Your Camel to Bed; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; May 16, 1993.

Posted by jservice at May 15, 2003 10:00 PM