see a man

see a man verb: used in place of a real explanation when excusing oneself for a short period of time, particularly (euphemistic) to use the toilet or (historical) drink alcohol.

Verb

see a man (third-person singular simple present sees a man, present participle seeing a man, simple past saw a man, past participle seen a man)

(dated, idiomatic) Used in place of a real explanation when excusing oneself for a short period of time, particularly (euphemistic) to use the toilet or (historical) drink alcohol.
- I'll be right back. I've just got to go to the ladies' room to see a man.
- Although they were all out, at the bases, and the rest of our nine having gone to see a man there was nobody to take the bat.1867 September 12, Ball Players' Chronicle, page 3
Synonyms:

a man about a horse, a man about a dog, a man about the plumbing, use the toilet, urinate

Synonyms of see a man

a man about a horse
a man about a dog
a man about the plumbing
use the toilet
urinate

Forms of see a man

third-person singular present	sees a man
present participle	seeing a man
past	saw a man
past participle	seen a man

Origin of see a man

Clipping of see a man about a dog.

Questions about see a man

What does see a man mean?: See a man means used in place of a real explanation when excusing oneself for a short period of time, particularly (euphemistic) to use the toilet or (historical) drink alcohol.
What part of speech is see a man?: See a man is a verb.
What is the past tense of see a man?: The past tense of see a man is saw a man.

Words near see a man in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: see a man (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-see a man.ogg.

Cite this entry: “see a man.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/see_a_man. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.