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English
Noun
spit and image (uncountable)
- (Usually preceded by "the") Uncommon form of spitting image.
1923, J. S. Fletcher, The Markenmore Mystery, Chapter 21:"Well!" he exclaimed. "If 'tain't, 'tis the very spit and image of that there what I sees her handle! But they things be pretty much of a muchness, I reckon, master."
2002 December 8, Román Alonso and Lisa Eisner, “Style; Double Dutch”, in The New York Times:Like surgically detached Siamese twins, the Dutch fashion designers Viktor and Rolf are the spit and image of each other.
2013 April 4, Philip Galanes, “One of a Kind”, in The New York Times:When they insist you’re this other woman’s spit and image, say: “Actually, we look nothing alike, aside from our skin color.”
2019 August 26, Elayne Grant Archer, Crossing Troubled Waters, page 89:There was also Old Miliken, who'd apparently been a whiz in his time but was now an aged drunk who looked the spit and image of the aging portrait in The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:spit and image.
Usage notes
Although "spit and image" is umcommon nowadays, some usage guides such as The New York Times insist on "spit and image", labelling "spitting image" as erroneous.