cuspidor

American  

[kuhs-pi-dawr] / ˈkʌs pɪˌdɔr /

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.

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cuspidor British  

/ ˈkʌspɪˌdɔː /

noun

1. another word (esp US) for spittoon

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Etymology

Origin of cuspidor

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; see -i-, -tory ²

Example Sentences

Official Scorer Johnny Little, known as "the keeper of the cuspidor," cautions: "No licorice or other foreign matter mixed in."

From Time Magazine Archive

I criticize, however, the picture you ran of him sitting at his desk, next to a large brass cuspidor.

From Time Magazine Archive

There was a fireplace in every living room, a gilded chamber pot under every bed, a brass cuspidor in every room.

From Time Magazine Archive

Just about everybody on the public payroll pitched in, from the municipal cuspidor cleaners to the foreman of vacuum cleaners at the county courthouse.

From Time Magazine Archive

Of course you could secure the same murmuring effect by holding an old-fashioned tin cuspidor up to your ear, too, but in this case the poetic effect would have been lacking.

From Cobb's Bill-of-Fare by Newell, Peter