code brown

noun

The situation of a person defecating in an undesirable location (e.g. hospital bed or retail store), requiring cleanup.

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Meanings

nouncode brown (plural code browns)

plural code browns

  1. humorousThe situation of a person defecating in an undesirable location (e.g. hospital bed or retail store), requiring cleanup.

    I hear the store speaker call for a cleanup crew: "Code brown on Aisle 2 with a possible runaway cart track to 16."

    2005 September 9, Bruce Michaud, “Dog-day misery in Aisle 16”, in North of Tampa, St. Petersburg Times, page 2

Origin

Probably originally a code used in some hospitals; some hospitals today still use code brown to one or another kind of environmental or hazardous-material emergency.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

code brown. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/code%20brown

MLA

“code brown.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/code%20brown. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “code brown,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/code%20brown.

Source: code brown on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.