expectorate

[ik-spek-tuh-reyt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR expectorate ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), ex·pec·to·rat·ed, ex·pec·to·rat·ing.

to eject or expel matter, as phlegm, from the throat or lungs by coughing or hawking and spitting; spit.

verb (used with object), ex·pec·to·rat·ed, ex·pec·to·rat·ing.

to eject or expel (matter) in this way.

Origin of expectorate

1595–1605; < Latin expectorātus (past participle of expectorāre to expel from the breast), equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + pector- (stem of pectus) breast + -ātus -ate¹

Related formsex·pec·to·ra·tor, nounun·ex·pec·to·rat·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for expectorate

spew, hawk, spit

Examples from the Web for expectorate

Historical Examples of expectorate

So absorbed was his attention that he even forgot to expectorate.
Original Short Stories of Maupassant, Volume 1
Guy de Maupassant
It is barbarous to expectorate in the temple of your faith, but that doubtless is an extreme case.
Italian Hours
Henry James
The throat is dry and irritated, and there is a constant desire to expectorate.
Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field
Thomas W. Knox
So, if I have,—why the devil don't you say it at once, and expectorate your spleen?
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II
Thomas Moore
Seller (falls into a brown study, from which he at length emerges to tap the nearest ewe on the forehead and expectorate).
Mr. Punch's Country Life
Various

British Dictionary definitions for expectorate

expectorate

verb

to cough up and spit out (sputum from the respiratory passages)

Derived Formsexpectoration, nounexpectorator, noun

Word Origin for expectorate

C17: from Latin expectorāre, literally: to drive from the breast, expel, from pectus breast

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for expectorate

c.1600, "to clear out the chest or lungs," from Latin expectoratus, past participle of expectorare "scorn, expel from the mind," literally "make a clean breast," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + pectus (genitive pectoris) "breast" (see pectoral (adj.)). Use as a euphemism for "spit" is first recorded 1827. Original sense in expectorant. Related: Expectorated; expectorating.

expectorate in Medicine

expectorate

[ĭk-spĕk′tə-rāt′]

v.

To eject saliva, mucus, or other body fluid from the mouth; spit.

To clear out the chest and lungs by coughing up and spitting out matter.

Related formsex•pec′to•ra′tion n.