How did "pissed" come to mean "drunk" or "angry"?

How did "pissed" come to mean "drunk" or "angry" in expressions such as: "I'm pissed" OR "I'm pissed off"?
All dictionaries I consulted just gave that definition.
So, does it have anything to do - even just figuratively - with "urine" (i.e. the common usage of "piss")?

P.S. Also do the expressions "Piss off!" (meaning "Go away!") & "take the piss [out of someone]" (meaning "make fun of someone") have anything to do - even just figuratively - with "urine"?

If there is a relationship between being pissed or piss off and urine, then what is it?

Solution 1:

The application of piss or pissed to anger was first documented as an expression just after World War II. In two articles from American Speech in the same year, Fred Eikel, Jr. and Joseph W. Bishop, Jr. each documented the usage.

Here is Eikel, Fred. “An Aggie Vocabulary of Slang.” American Speech, vol. 21, no. 1, 1946, pp. 29–36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/487347, p. 33.

HE PISSED (or PEED) ME OFF. An expression used of a person who in any way disappointed the speaker.

This usage comes from Texas A&M, which at the time had a major military presence.

Here is Bishop, Joseph W. “American Army Speech in the European Theater.” American Speech, vol. 21, no. 4, 1946, pp. 241–252. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/487320. p.249.

a. Pissed-off (or P'd off). This means, roughly, fed-up, irritated, depressed. I have no idea of its history. The British say browned off and it may be that the Americans who borrowed the phrase simply felt that 'browned' was not strong enough. The superlative is, for some reason, highly pissed off, which may also be a Briticism.

Bishop is an amateur recording slang from his time in service. His note - "I have no idea of its history" - carries over to explaining why this usage appeared, or what its precise relation to micturation is. The guess of an association with "brown off" is possible, as is an attraction to the vulgarity of "piss" or an affinity for another figurative usage of "piss."

Solution 2:

Piss, as alcoholic drink, is first attested in 1925 but almost certainly was used in spoken English before that:

3. Alcoholic drink; esp. drink which is regarded as weak or unpalatable alcohol. Cf. on the piss at Phrases 3 and gnat's piss n. at gnat n.1 Compounds, panther piss n.

Sometimes (esp. in Australian and New Zealand use): spec. beer.

1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 224 Pish, whiskey. Any spirits.

1950 ‘Thirty-five’ Argot in G. Simes Dict. Austral. Underworld Slang (1993) 155/1 P-ss, beer.

Thus:

On the piss: Chiefly British, Australian, and New Zealand. on the piss: out drinking; engaged in a bout or bouts of heavy drinking. Conversely off the piss.

1929 F. Manning Middle Parts Fortune i. ii. 61 If any of you chaps go on the piss with Bourne, and he offers you a stirrup-cup, you can take it from me he has got you beat.

The adjective “pissed” - drunk - thus arrives as a result of drinking beer/alcohol.

Then there is

P2. a. Originally U.S. to —— the piss out of: to —— to an extreme degree. Cf. to —— the shit out of (a person or thing) at shit n. and adj. Phrases 2.

The idea is one of being subject to an unpleasant experience that causes involuntarily urination (or defecation).

1929 E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs v. 98 He would knock the piss out of him.

1934 H. Miller Tropic of Cancer 83 That boss of mine, he bawls the piss out of me if I miss a semi-colon.

1971 H. S. Thompson Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) 24 I told him that we had a Vincent Black Shadow. That scared the piss out of him.

1998 Independent (Nexis) 7 Nov. 16 What irritates the piss out of me is when I see people pick up my book, and then just put it straight back down again.

Then there is

to take the piss (out of) b. colloquial (chiefly British, Australian, and New Zealand). to make fun (of), to mock, deride, satirize; = to take the mickey (out of) at mickey n.1 7.

1945 Penguin New Writing 26 49 The corporal..sat back in his corner looking a little offended. He thought I was taking the piss.

I suspect this is from the meaning of “piss” in two other phrases:

P1. a. piss and wind n. (and variants) empty talk, bombast.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 314 All wind and piss like a tanyard cat.

And

b. piss and vinegar n. originally U.S. energy, vigour; youthful aggression.

1936 D. Barnes Nightwood: Orig. Version (1995) v. 71 The criers telling the price of wine to such effect that the dawn saw good clerks full of piss and vinegar.

in which “piss” is roughly equivalent to “spirit /bravado”

The verb in the meaning of to urinate, dates back to about 1300 but the newer meaning of to leave or go away seem to have originated in the 1930s:

to piss off 1. intransitive. To leave, go away. Frequently in imperative.The imperative is sometimes used simply to express disbelief, rather than dismissal (cf. to get away at get v. Phrasal verbs 1).

a1935 T. E. Lawrence Mint (1957) ii. xx. 186 You piss off, Pissquick.

1944 in G. Rock Hist. Amer. Field Service (1956) 510 Nobody seemed to know anything much, and we all figured bearers had pissed off.

The principle here is that "piss" is used in exactly the same aggressive and emphatic way as "bugger off" "fuck off" and the meaning of "urinate" is lost.

All quotes from or via OED.