cuspidor

[kuhs-pi-dawr]

noun

1. a large bowl, often of metal, serving as a receptacle for spit, especially from chewing tobacco: in wide use during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

cuspidor

/ ˈkʌspɪˌdɔː /

noun

1. another word (esp US) for spittoon

Word History and Origins

Origin of cuspidor¹

1770–80; < Portuguese: literally, spitter, equivalent to cusp ( ir ) to spit (≪ Latin conspuere to cover with spit; con- con- + spuere to spit ¹ ) + -idor < Latin -i-tōrium; -i-, -tory ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of cuspidor¹

C18: from Portuguese, from cuspir to spit, from Latin conspuere, from spuere to spit

Example Sentences

Time after time, single-handed and on her hands and knees, she emptied all the cuspidors and scrubbed down the lobby of Grand Central Station.

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Flies may carry the virus if they are allowed to frequent cuspidors into which consumptives have expectorated.

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To avoid bloating from the hundreds of sips in a day, he would use chrome-plated cuspidors.

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A corps of janitors had been active for two days introducing folding chairs, cuspidors, tables and wastebaskets.

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Directly behind me, as I was soon made aware, was a cuspidor, toward which the President turned the flow of tobacco juice.

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