schiffen

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Likely from Schiff +‎ -en.

schiffen (weak, third-person singular present schifft, past tense schiffte, past participle geschifft, auxiliary sein)

1. (dated) to sail (go by ship) [from 13th c.]
   • 1912, Martin Luther, Lutherbibel von 1912, Acts 13:4 (with KJV translation)

     Diese nun, wie sie ausgesandt waren vom heiligen Geist, kamen sie gen Seleucia, und von da schifften sie gen Zypern.

     So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

• Schiff

From Schiff which in Studentensprache used to be synonymous with German Nachtgeschirr (“chamber pot”). The term originated in this jargon in central Germany in the 1830s and had already become mainstream and widespread by 1900.

An alternative theory proposes that in olden times, noble women didn't wear any undergarments, and when they needed to urinate, servants gave them a container in the form of a little ship (Schiff being the German word for ship). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

schiffen (weak, third-person singular present schifft, past tense schiffte, past participle geschifft, auxiliary haben)

1. (colloquial) to urinate

   Synonyms: urinieren, pissen, pinkeln, strullern

2. (colloquial, by extension) to rain heavily

   Synonyms: regnen, in Strömen regnen, gießen

   • 2011 July 25, Sebastian Gethke, “WIZO-Frontmann Axel Kurth: "Laute Gitarren - das ist das Schönste"”, in Neue Westfälische‎:

     Axel Kurth: […] Seit ich angekommen bin, habe ich die ganze Zeit etwas zu tun, z.B. Interviews geben, so wie jetzt. Ich freue mich aber, dass das Wetter schön ist, dass es nicht geschifft hat.

     Axel Kurth: […] Since arriving I have things to do all the time, e.g. giving interviews, like now. But I am glad that the weather is nice, that it has not rained.

• The verb may only be understood in the second sense if the subject is es.
• No meaning is likely understood in Westphalia.

• “schiffen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “schiffen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “schiffen” in Duden online
• “schiffen” in OpenThesaurus.de
• “schiffen” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.