spigot
Americannoun
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a small peg or plug for stopping the vent of a cask.
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a peg or plug for stopping the passage of liquid in a faucet or cock.
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a faucet or cock for controlling the flow of liquid from a pipe or the like.
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the end of a pipe that enters the enlarged end of another pipe to form a joint.
noun
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a stopper for the vent hole of a cask
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a tap, usually of wood, fitted to a cask
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a US name for tap 2
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a short cylindrical projection on one component designed to fit into a hole on another, esp the male part of a joint ( spigot and socket joint ) between two pipes
Regionalisms
See faucet.
Etymology
Origin of spigot
1350–1400; Middle English spigot, perhaps < Old French *espigot < Old Provençal espig ( a ) (< Latin spīca ear of grain; see spica) + Old French -ot diminutive suffix
Explanation
If you want to splash in a giant puddle, just leave the spigot open in your backyard. A spigot is a faucet, a device to turn water on and off. If you leave a spigot open, the water will keep flowing. In the U.S., most of us call an indoor valve (in the kitchen or bathroom) a faucet, and the outdoor one a spigot. In other English-speaking places, a spigot is a plug inserted in a cask, or one end of a pipe. It's not uncommon for this word to be pronounced “spicket,” with some dictionaries including that as an acceptable way to say it.
Vocabulary lists containing spigot
Seedfolks
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Clean Getaway
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Darius the Great Is Not Okay
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Appeared in the February 27, 2026, print edition as 'Vance Tightens the Fraud Spigot'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026
Excavations also uncovered large lights from another nearby runway, and a Spigot Mortar-type gun emplacement used to defend it from attack.
From BBC • Oct. 11, 2023
Spigot reopened: Acting quickly after the reopening of the federal government last week, the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2019
The plan is for those 30 or so horses to come back to Spigot Lodge to be trained by Elaine, as Little Spigot is on the market now.
From The Guardian • Aug. 1, 2010
Whereupon they all rose, and wishing him a very good night, Jawleyford handed him over to Spigot, who transferred him to one footman, who passed him to another, to button into his leather-headed shandridan.
From Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour by Surtees, Robert Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
