spit

Greek soldiers roasting lambs for Easter using spits (sense 1) in 1958

A spit as a landform (sense 2): an aerial photograph of Farewell Spit at the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /spɪt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

The noun is from Middle English spit, spite, spete, spette, spyte, spytte (“rod on which meat is cooked; rod used as a torture instrument; short spear; point of a spear; spine in the fin of a fish; pointed object; dagger symbol; land projecting into the sea”), from Old English spitu (“rod on which meat is cooked; spit”),^[1] from Proto-Germanic *spitō (“rod; skewer; spike”), *spituz (“rod on which meat is cooked; stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *spid-, *spey- (“sharp; sharp stick”). The English word is cognate with Dutch spit, Low German Spitt (“pike, spear; spike; skewer; spit”), Danish spid, Swedish spett (“skewer; spit; type of crowbar”).

The verb is derived from the noun,^[2] or from Middle English spiten (“to put on a spit; to impale”), from spit, spite: see above.^[3] The English verb is cognate with Middle Dutch speten, spitten (modern Dutch speten), Middle Low German speten (Low German spitten, modern German spießen (“to skewer, to spear”), spissen (now dialectal)) and Danish spidde.^[2]

spit (plural spits)

1. A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire.

   Synonym: broach

   • 1793, G. Hamilton, “ A Short Description of Carnicobar”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume X, London: Printed for R Griffiths; and sold by T Becket, , →OCLC, page 509:

     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.

   • 1793, Arthur Young, “1788 ”, in Travels during the Years 1787, 1788 and 1789, Undertaken More Particularly with a View of Ascertaining the Cultivation, Wealth, Resources, and National Prosperity of the Kingdom of France. In Two Volumes, volume I, Dublin: Printed for Messrs. R. Cross, , →OCLC, page 192:

     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: [...]

   • 1817, [William Kitchiner], “Roasting”, in Apicius Redivivus; or, The Cook’s Oracle: , London: Printed for Samuel Bagster, , by J. Moyes, , →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1950, James Hornell, “The Greatest Eel-farm and Eel-trap in the World”, in Fishing in Many Waters, 1st paperback edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: At the University Press, published 2014, →ISBN, page 166:

     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.

2. (geography) A generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula.
   • 1843, William W Mather, “Marine Alluvial Detritus”, in Geology of New-York (Natural History of New York; part 4), part I (Comprising the Geology of the First Geological District), Albany, N.Y.: Printed by Carroll & Cook, , →OCLC, page 28:

     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.

   • 1874, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Ordered South”, in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C Kegan Paul & Co., , published 1881, →OCLC, page 147:

     Or perhaps he may see a group of washerwomen relieved, on a spit of shingle, against the blue sea, [...]

   • 1962, Publications‎, number 94, United States Hydrographic Office, →OCLC, page 228, column 2:

     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.

   • 2016, Robert C. Graham, A. Toby O’Geen, “Geomorphology and Soils”, in Harold Mooney, Erika Zavaleta, editors, Ecosystems of California, Oakland, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Drivers), page 63, column 1:

     Playa margins are dominated by relict shoreline features, such as wave-cut terraces, depositional beach ridges, and offshore bars and spits.

• skewer

spit (third-person singular simple present spits, present participle spitting, simple past and past participle spitted)

1. (transitive) To impale on a spit; to pierce with a sharp object.

   to spit a loin of veal

   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 79, column 1:

     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.

   • 1991, I. F. La Croix, E. A. S. La Croix, T. M. La Croix, “Malaŵi: Climate and Geography”, in Orchids of Malaŵi: The Epiphytic and Terrestrial Orchids from South and East Central Africa, Rotterdam, Brookfield, Vt.: A A[imé] Balkema, →ISBN, page 4, column 2:

     Fried or roast mice, spitted on sticks like kebabs, are often offered for sale by the roadside.

   • 2012, Hilary Mantel, “Falcons: Wiltshire, September 1535”, in Bring Up the Bodies, London: Fourth Estate, →ISBN, part 1:

     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.

2. (transitive) To use a spit to cook; to attend to food that is cooking on a spit.

   She’s spitting the roast in the kitchen.

   • 1607, W. S. [attributed to Thomas Middleton or William Shakespeare (doubtful)], The Pvritaine. Or The VViddovv of Watling-streete. , imprinted at London: By G Eld, →OCLC, Act II:

     Moll. Ha's my Mother ſeene him yet. / Frail[ty]. O no, ſhee's—ſpitting in the Kitchin.

   • 2005, Gary Alan Wassner, chapter 36, in The Twins, Port Orchard, Wash.: Windstorm Creative, →ISBN; republished London: Gateway, 2014, →ISBN:

     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.

The verb is from Middle English spē̆ten, spete (“to spit (blood, phlegm, saliva, venom, etc.); of a fire: to emit sparks”), from Old English spǣtan (“to spit; to squirt”);^[4] or from Middle English spit, spitte, spitten (“to spit (blood, phlegm, saliva, venom, etc.); of a fire: to emit sparks”), from Old English spittan, spyttan (“to spit”),^[5][6] both from Proto-Germanic, from Proto-Indo-European *sp(y)ēw, *spyū,^[7] ultimately imitative; compare Middle English spitelen (“to spit out, expectorate”)^[8] and English spew.^[9] The English word is cognate with Danish spytte (“to spit”), North Frisian spütte, Norwegian spytte (“to spit”), Swedish spotta (“to spit”), Old Norse spýta (Faroese spýta (“to spit”), Icelandic spýta (“to spit”)).^[6]

The noun is derived from the verb;^[10] compare Danish spyt (“spit”), Middle English spit, spytte (“saliva, spittle, sputum”),^[11] spet (“saliva, spittle”),^[12] spē̆tel (“saliva, spittle”),^[13] North Frisian spiit.^[10]

spit (third-person singular simple present spits, present participle spitting, simple past and past participle spat or spit)

2. (transitive, intransitive) To evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.

   Synonym: expectorate

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Matthew 27:30:

     And they ſpit upon him [Jesus Christ], and tooke the reed, and ſmote him on the head.

   • 1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. , London: Jos Hindmarsh , →OCLC, Act III, scene , pages 26–27:

     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: […]

   • 1974, James A Michener, “Drylands”, in Centennial, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN; Dial Press trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Dial Press, 2015, →ISBN, page 931:

     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.

   • 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 25; republished London: Arrow Books, Random House Group, 1995, →ISBN, pages 39–40:

     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.

   • 2020 October 21, “Network News: Belly Mujinga”, in Rail, page 11:

     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.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To emit or expel in a manner similar to evacuating saliva from the mouth.

   a hot pan spitting droplets of fat

   • 2015 May, James Axler [pseudonym; Rik Hoskin], chapter 6, in Hell’s Maw (Outlanders; 73), Don Mills, Ont.: Gold Eagle Books, Worldwide Library, →ISBN, page 73:

     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.

4. (impersonal) To rain or snow slightly.
   • 1834 October, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Steam Excursion”, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. , volume II, London: John Macrone, , published 1836, →OCLC, page 310:

     It had been "spitting" with rain for the last half-hour, and now it began to pour in good earnest.

   • 1851 December 24, Henry David Thoreau, “December, 1851 (Æt 34)”, in Bradford Torrey, editor, The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, volumes III (September 16, 1851 – April 30, 1852), Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin and Company, published 1906, →OCLC, page 153:

     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.

5. (transitive, intransitive) To utter (something) violently.
   • 1915, Amélie Rives (Princess Troubetzkoy), chapter XXXIX, in Shadows of Flames: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A Stokes Company, →OCLC, page 240:

     "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!"

   • 2004, Mark Gatiss, “The Mystery of the Two Geologists”, in The Vesuvius Club: A Bit of Fluff (A Lucifer Box Novel), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, 2005, →ISBN, page 23:

     "Gentleman? You?" he spat.

6. (intransitive) To make a spitting sound, like an angry cat.
7. (transitive, slang, hip-hop) To rap, to utter.
   • 2005, Giselle Zado Wasfie, So Fly, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Griffin, →ISBN:

     A group of black guys were spitting rhymes in the corner, slapping hands and egging one another on.

   • 2006, Noire , Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 19:

     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.

   • 2021, Jehnie I. Burns, Mixtape Nostalgia: Culture, Memory, and Representation, page 138:

     […] 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.

8. (intransitive, slang, humorous) (in the form spitting) To spit facts; to tell the truth.

   He's spitting for sure.

The past tense and past participle spit is an older form, but remains the more common form used by speakers in North America, and is also used often enough by speakers of British and Commonwealth English to be listed as an alternative form by the Collins English Dictionary and Oxford Dictionaries. A non-standard past participle form is spitten.

spit (countable and uncountable, plural spits)

1. (uncountable) Saliva, especially when expectorated.

   Synonyms: expectoration, spittle

   There was spit all over the washbasin.

   • 2010, Connie Colwell Miller, “How Spit Happens”, in The Slimy Book of Spit (The Amazingly Gross Human Body), Mankato, Minn.: Edge Books, Capstone Press, →ISBN, page 19:

     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.

   • 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 108:

     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.

2. (countable) An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of rain or snow.
   • 2015, Col Buchanan, “Return of the King”, in The Black Dream, London: Tor Books, →ISBN:

     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.

4. A person who exactly resembles someone else (usually in set phrases; see spitting image).
   • 1840, The Court Magazine & Monthly Critic and Lady's Magazine, page 405:

     […] according to some of the elders of the village, young Philip was the “very spit” of his father, as they once remembered him […]

   • 2011, Kate Konopicky, “Worn-Out Genes”, in A Woman Of No Importance: A Tenderly Observed, Ruthlessly Honest and Hilariously Funny Memoir about the Joys and Horrors of Motherhood, Ebury Publishing:

     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.

5. (uncountable) Synonym of slam (“card game”)

The noun is from Middle Dutch speet, spit, Middle Low German spêdt, spit (Low German spit); the word is cognate with Dutch spit, North Frisian spatt, spet, West Frisian spit.^[14]

The verb is from Middle English spitten (“to dig”), from Old English spittan (“to dig with a spade”),^[15] possibly from spitu (“rod on which meat is cooked; spit”); see further at etymology 1. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch spetten, spitten (modern Dutch spitten), Middle Low German speten, spitten (Low German spitten), North Frisian spat, West Frisian spitte.^[16]

spit (plural spits)

1. 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.
   • 1791 January 10, Samuel Dunn, Transactions of the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce; , volume IX, London: Printed by T. Spilsbury and Son, ; and sold by Messrs. Dodsley, , →OCLC, page 42:

     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.

   • 1792 January 1, Lewis Majendie, Transactions of the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce; , volume X, London: Printed by T. Spilsbury and Son, ; and sold by Messrs. Dodsley, , →OCLC, page 4:

     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; [...]

   • 1832, “Horticulture”, in David Brewster, editor, The Edinburgh Encyclopædia, [...] In Eighteen Volumes, 1st American edition, volume X, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Joseph and Edward Parker. , →OCLC, page 545, column 1:

     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.

   • , NIIR Board of Consultants & Engineers, “Production and Management of Medicinal Plants on Farms”, in Cultivation and Processing of Selected Medicinal Plants, Delhi: Asia Pacific Business Press, →ISBN, page 82:

     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.

2. The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful.
   • 1795 March, Ezra L’Hommedieu, “Observations on Manures”, in Transactions of the Society, for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures, Instituted in the State of New-York, 2nd revised edition, volume I, Albany, N.Y.: Printed by Charles R. and George Webster, , published 1801, →OCLC, part III (Transactions, &c.), page 235:

     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, [...]

spit (third-person singular simple present spits, present participle spitting, simple past and past participle spitted)

1. (transitive, dialectal) To dig (something) using a spade; also, to turn (the soil) using a plough.
   • 1769, “PLOUGH”, in The Complete Farmer: Or, A General Dictionary of Husbandry in All Its Branches; , 2nd corrected and improved edition, London: Printed for R. Baldwin, , →OCLC, column 2:

     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.

2. (transitive, dialectal) To plant (something) using a spade.
   • 1882 May, J. Alexander Fulton, “Delaware Peach Orchards”, in Joseph H. Reall, editor, Agricultural Review and Journal of the American Agricultural Association, volume 2, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Agricultural Review Company, , →OCLC, page 124:

     When the seed is procured it is either "spitted in" with a spade or planted in rows in the nursery.

3. (intransitive, dialectal) To dig, to spade.

   Synonym: delve

   • 1758 September 2–5, “A Course of Experiments and Improvements in Agriculture, ”, in The London Chronicle: Or, Universal Evening Post, volume IV, number 263, London: Sold by J. Wilkie, , →OCLC, page 219, column 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; [...]

   • 1882 May, J. Alexander Fulton, “Delaware Peach Orchards”, in Joseph H. Reall, editor, Agricultural Review and Journal of the American Agricultural Association, volume 2, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Agricultural Review Company, , →OCLC, page 124:

     Then the ground is "spitted" or spaded in about six or eight inches deep, as a garden is for a crop of vegetables.

• rotisserie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• spit (landform) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• spitting on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• spit (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• James Orchard Halliwell (1847) “SPIT”, in A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century. In Two Volumes, volumes II (J–Z), London: John Russell Smith, , →OCLC, page 785, column 1: “SPIT. (1) The depth a spade goes in digging, about a foot.”

• ISTP, PITs, PTIs, TIPS, pist, pits, sipt, stip, tips

From Middle Dutch spit. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /spɪt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: spit
• Rhymes: -ɪt

spit n (plural spitten or speten, diminutive spitje n or speetje n)

1. a skewer

   Synonyms: braadspit, vleesspies, vleesspit

• spies
• spits
• spitten

• Afrikaans: spit

From English speed.

• IPA^(key):

spit

1. speedboat, motorboat

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

From English speed.

spit

1. speed