Library / English Dictionary

WETTING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of making something wet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("wetting" is a kind of...):

change of state (the act of changing something into something different in essential characteristics)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wetting"):

dousing; ducking; immersion; submersion (the act of wetting something by submerging it)

drenching; soaking; souse; sousing (the act of making something completely wet)

dampening; moistening (the act of making something slightly wet)

splash; splashing (the act of scattering water about haphazardly)

watering (wetting with water)

Derivation:

wet (cause to become wet)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A euphemism for urination

Example:

he had to take a leak

Synonyms:

leak; making water; passing water; wetting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("wetting" is a kind of...):

micturition; urination (the discharge of urine)

Domain usage:

euphemism (an inoffensive or indirect expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or too harsh)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

-ing form of the verb wet

Credits

 Context examples: 

Involuntary discharge of urine after the age at which urinary control should have been achieved; often used alone with specific reference to involuntary discharge of urine occurring during sleep at night (bed-wetting; nocturnal enuresis).

(Enuresis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Children should not be punished for wetting the bed.

(Bedwetting, NIH)

And now, if the gods be truly kind, we shall drift by that next headland and come upon a perfectly sheltered beach, where we may land without wetting our feet.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The lee rail, where the dead man lay, was buried in the sea, and as the schooner lifted and righted the water swept across the deck wetting us above our shoe-tops.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Only Louis refrained, no more than cautiously wetting his lips with the liquor, though he joined in the revels with an abandon equal to that of most of them.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I knew the kind, so thick and so close of texture that it could resist the rain and not be soaked through after hours of wetting.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)