Pronunciations
-
/spɪt/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
Noun
A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire.
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
More examples (4)
They roaſt a fowl, by running a piece of wood through it, by way of ſpit, and holding it over a briſk fire, until the feathers are burnt of, when it is ready for eating, in their taſte.
An Engliſh family in the country, [...] would receive you with an unquiet hoſpitality, and an anxious politeneſs; and after waiting for a hurry-ſcurry derangement of cloth, table, plates, ſideboard, pot and ſpit, would give you perhaps ſo good a dinner, that none of the family, between anxiety and fatigue, could ſupply one word of converſation, and you would depart under cordial wiſhes that you might never return.—This folly, ſo common in England, is never met with in France: [...]
When the joint to be roasted is thicker at one end than the other, place the spit slanting, so that the whole time the thickest part is nearest the fire, and also the thinnest by this means is preserved from being overmuch roasted.
The spits upon which the double sections of fish are transfixed are iron rods about 7 feet long, provided with an L-shaped handle at one end, so that when hung on a bracket at either side of the fireplace it may be turned by hand.
A generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula or bar.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
Sand-spits are unfinished beaches, and long tongues or points of land, formed of sand and shingle, by the transporting action of currents and the waves. In Coldspring harbor, a sand-spit extends from the west shore, obliquely, nearly across. [...] The materials are transported by the currents and waves, and deposited to form this spit.
Or perhaps he may see a group of washerwomen relieved, on a spit of shingle, against the blue sea, [...]
More examples (1)
Chiao Shih, 44 feet high, lies about 1/2 mile southeastward of Ko-li, a 199-foot islet, that lies close off the south end of Pei-kan-t’ang Tao and is connected to it by a stoney spit.
Playa margins are dominated by relict shoreline features, such as wave-cut terraces, depositional beach ridges, and offshore bars and spits.
Verb
To impale on a spit; to pierce with a sharp object.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
to spit a loin of veal
More examples (1)
[W]hy in a moment looke to ſee / The blind and bloody Souldier, with foule hand / Deſire the Locks of your ſhrill-ſhriking Daughters: / Your Fathers taken by the ſiluer Bears, / And their moſt reuerend Heads daſht to the Walls: / Your naked Infants ſpitted vpon Pykes, / Whiles the mad Mothers, with their howles confus'd, / Doe breake the Clouds, [...] / What ſay you? Will you yeeld, and thus auoyd? / Or guiltie in defence, be thus destroy'd.
Fried or roast mice, spitted on sticks like kebabs, are often offered for sale by the roadside.
More examples (1)
[H]e has seen kitchens thrown into turmoil, and he himself has been down in the grey-green hour before dawn, when the brick ovens are swabbed out ready for the first batch of loaves, as carcasses are spitted, pots set on trivets, poultry plucked and jointed.
To use a spit to cook; to attend to food that is cooking on a spit.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
She’s spitting the roast in the kitchen.
Moll. Ha's my Mother ſeene him yet. / Frail[ty]. O no, ſhee's—ſpitting in the Kitchin.
More examples (1)
[H]e saw that the fires scattered all over the massive camp were emitting greasy fumes from the carcasses of the burning animals spitted over the flames.
Verb
To evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.
Usage- Transitive or intransitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
And they ſpit upon him [Jesus Christ], and tooke the reed, and ſmote him on the head.
More examples (1)
Aquil[ina]. […] pray vvhat Beast vvill your VVorship pleaſe to be next? / Anto[nio]. Novv I'l be a Senator agen, and thy Lover little Nicky Nacky! [He ſits by her.] Ah toad, toad, toad, toad! ſpit in my Face a little, Nacky—ſpit in my Face prithee, ſpit in my Face, never ſo little: […]
Yes there were times, I'm sure you knew/When I bit off more than I could chew/But through it all, when there was doubt/I ate it up and spit it out.
More examples (3)
When the mighty duststorm, silent and terrifying, first engulfed her, she thought she would choke. Spitting dust from her dry lips, she ran indoors to protect the children, and found them coughing.
At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.
The 47-year-old had allegedly been spat at by a passenger at London Victoria who said he had the virus, although a subsequent police investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone.
To emit or expel in a manner similar to evacuating saliva from the mouth.
Usage- Transitive or intransitive
- Examples
-
a hot pan spitting droplets of fat
More examples (1)
The wag zigzagged across the field, bumping over ruts in the soil and tangled grass as a stream of bullets followed them from the high-mounted railguns, spitting sparks from the metal sides of the wag.
To rain or snow slightly.
Usage- impersonal
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
"There! now, Strickland, I know all about what you intend to say, and therefore need not be told; but see, it spits with rain, 'tis late, Graham's turned in, let's below; […]
It had been "spitting" with rain for the last half-hour, and now it began to pour in good earnest.
More examples (1)
It spits snow this afternoon. Saw a flock of snowbirds on the Walden road. I see them so commonly when it is beginning to snow that I am inclined to regard them as a sign of a snow-storm.
Does it rain? — It's nobbut spitting a bit.
To utter (something) violently.
Usage- Transitive or intransitive
- Examples
-
"Why, you little emasculated Don Juan— You—" he spat an unmentionable name— "d'you think I'd fight one of your tin-soldier farces with you? Clear out!"
"Gentleman? You?" he spat.
To make a spitting sound, like an angry cat.
Usage- Intransitive
To rap, to utter.
Usage- Slang
- Transitive
- Examples
-
A group of black guys were spitting rhymes in the corner, slapping hands and egging one another on.
More examples (2)
Didn't matter if I was out there spittin' on the mic or breaking ankles on the court, the best feeling in the world was performing in front of thousands of fans who couldn't stop screaming my name.
[…] mutating into all-star line-ups of emcees spitting hot bars over familiar beats, then to a single crew spitting bars over familiar beats, then eventually to a single crew (or artist) spitting bars over unfamiliar beats.
(in the form spitting) To spit facts; to tell the truth.
Usage- Humorous
- Intransitive
- Slang
- Examples
-
He's spitting for sure.
Noun
Saliva, especially when expectorated.
Usage- Uncountable
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
There was spit all over the washbasin.
More examples (1)
Sometimes your body doesn't make as much spit as it needs. When you sleep, your salivary glands take a bit of a snooze too. You're still making spit, but not as much. This is why your mouth feels dry when you wake up.
[T]hey marked their truce by each of them, Aesir and Vanir alike, one by one spitting into a vat. As their spit mingled, so was their agreement made binding.
An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of rain or snow.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
-
It was early winter in the southern continent, a season of rain and winds and mud, and indeed coals in a nearby brazier hissed with a few spits of rain.
Likeness; used, usually in set phrases (see spitting image) of a person who exactly resembles someone else.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
[…] according to some of the elders of the village, young Philip was the “very spit” of his father, as they once remembered him […]
Lots of people claimed she was the image of her father (about the same number who saw her as the dead spit of her mother), which was a little disconcerting.
Synonym of slam (“card game”).
Usage- Uncountable
Noun
The depth to which the blade of a spade goes into the soil when it is used for digging; a layer of soil of the depth of a spade's blade.
- Examples
-
More examples (4)
They [the potatoes] ſtood till October, when they were taken up, and a large pye made of them; which is laying them up in a heap, and covering them with ſtraw and a ſpit of earth.
The firſt plantation, containing four thouſand ſix hundred oaks, was formed on part of the ancient Home Park, ſurrounding this Caſtle: the ſoil was dug one full ſpit, and the turf inverted; [...]
Soil of the usual depth may be trenched two spit (spadeful) deep; and if this is done every third year, it is evident that the surface which has produced three crops will rest for the next three years; thus giving a much better chance of constantly producing healthy and luxuriant crops, and with one half the manure that would otherwise be requisite.
Proceed as for the single dig but start by removing two spits of topsoil to the far diagonal corner and also one spit of subsoil. Turn the exposed subsoil from hole two into hole one. Incorporate organic matter.
The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
Dig your clay with a ſpade in ſpits of ordinary bricks; dig two, three, eight, ten or twenty loads of clay, more or leſs as you pleaſe; [...] then take theſe ſpits of clay, after they are tried in the ſun, ſurround your pile of wood with them, [...]
Verb
To dig (something) using a spade; also, to turn (the soil) using a plough.
Usage- dialectal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
[T]he double plough, by taking faſt hold of the mould, throws all back again; and if the vegetables are not effectually earthed up, which may be the caſe after double ſpitting the intervals, then running the double plough over again, completes the buſineſs, and ſtrangely toſſes about and mellows the mould.
To plant (something) using a spade.
Usage- dialectal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
When the [peach] seed is procured it is either "spitted in" with a spade or planted in rows in the nursery.
To dig, to spade.
Usage- dialectal
- Intransitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
We left the ground, of field of loam, by ſuppoſition under two ſorts of managements; the one part very rough, and the other made as fine as circumſtances would allow; the former ploughed the uſual depth, the other double ſpitted; [...]
Then the ground is "spitted" or spaded in about six or eight inches deep, as a garden is for a crop of vegetables.
Noun
a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea
- Synonyms
a clear liquid secreted into the mouth by the salivary glands and mucous glands of the mouth; moistens the mouth and starts the digestion of starches
- Broader terms
a skewer for holding meat over a fire
- Broader terms
the act of spitting (forcefully expelling saliva)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
Verb
expel or eject (saliva or phlegm or sputum) from the mouth
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
The father of the victim spat at the alleged murderer
utter with anger or contempt
- Synonyms
rain gently
- Examples
-
It has only sprinkled, but the roads are slick
drive a skewer through
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
skewer the meat for the BBQ