dasses piss, noun phrase

Forms:
Also dassen piss.
Origin:
South African DutchShow more Partial translation of South African Dutch dassenpis or dasjespis, dassen or dasjes (see das and dassie) + pis urine.
obs.
hyraceum.
1785 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. I. 309On those places in the mountains, where these creatures dwell, there is found a substance called here Dassen-piss..used by some people for medical purposes.
1795 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. I. 166A kind of bitumen, which the country people were pleased to call dasses p—; supposing it to be the inspissated urine of the great mountain rat (cavia capensis) that is found there.
1810 J. Mackrill Diary. 88What the Country people ridiculously call Dasses Piss, Cavia Capensis or great Mountain Rat is a Bitumen found in the Crevices of Rocks & used in Fractures.
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obsolete or obsolescent
das, nounn.dassie, nounn.
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