motorman's friend

plural motorman's friends

1. A device strapped to a person's leg to enable urination without the use of a restroom.

   When necessary I relieved myself in a version of the old “motorman's friend,” proving once again that there is no dignity in television.

   2012, Dan Rather, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News

   3 more examples

   Older trolley drivers also developed urinary problems and some had to resort to “the motorman's friend," a urine collection tube and bottle that was strapped to the leg.

   1989, Joshua Benjamin Freeman, In Transit, page 14

   The system used for urination was a version of the time-honored 'motorman's friend', so called because the hose-and-bag unit was worn by the streetcar motorman, whose job gave him little opportunity for a rest stop.

   1994, Cecil Adams, Ed Zotti, Return of the Straight Dope: Still More from the Popular Newspaper Column, page 33

   In past filibusters, senators had relied upon “the motorman's friend” (a long tube attached to the waist and running down the inside of a pants leg) when they had to empty their bladder but could not leave the floor.

   1999, Lee Edwards, The Conservative Revolution: The Movement that Remade America, page 151

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see motorman, friend.