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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cuspidor

He had started life as a waif, he said, who had found shelter in a Philadelphia saloon, where he became cuspidor and errand boy at the age of seven.

From Time Magazine Archive

While the ineffable Judge Brown made good use of "a green cuspidor strategically located by his left foot," he rejected virtually every defense objection, say the authors.

From Time Magazine Archive

He keeps a quid of tobacco in his ample cheek, spits into his Senatorial cuspidor with regularity and precision, speaks for cotton as a cotton grower, heads the Senate Committee on Agriculture & Forestry.

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

Avoid this habit and use the cuspidor or step out-of-doors.

From Health, Happiness, and Longevity Health without medicine: happiness without money: the result, longevity by Louis Philippe McCarty

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