cesspool
[ ses-pool ]
/ ˈsɛsˌpul /
noun
a cistern, well, or pit for retaining the sediment of a drain or for receiving the sewage from a house.
any filthy receptacle or place.
any place of moral filth or immorality: a cesspool of iniquity.
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Nearby words
cesser, cession, cessionary, cesspipe, cesspit, cesspool, cesta, cestan-chenais syndrome, cesti, cestoda, cestode
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for cesspool
British Dictionary definitions for cesspool
cesspool
cesspit (ˈsɛsˌpɪt)
/ (ˈsɛsˌpuːl) /
noun
Also called: sink, sump a covered cistern, etc, for collecting and storing sewage or waste water
a filthy or corrupt placea cesspool of iniquity
Word Origin for cesspool
C17: changed (through influence of pool 1) from earlier cesperalle, from Old French souspirail vent, air, from soupirer to sigh; see suspire
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for cesspool
cesspool
also cess-pool, 1670s, the first element perhaps an alteration of cistern, perhaps a shortened form of recess [Klein]; or the whole may be an alteration of suspiral (c.1400), "drainpipe," from Old French sospiral "a vent, air hole," from sospirer "breathe," from Latin suspirare "breathe deep" [Barnhart]. Meaning extended to "tank at the end of the pipe," which would account for a possible folk-etymology change in final syllable.
Other possible etymologies: Italian cesso "privy," from Latin secessus "place of retirement" (in Late Latin "privy, drain"); dialectal suspool, from suss, soss "puddle;" or cess "a bog on the banks of a tidal river."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper