spigot
Americannoun
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spigots
plural
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a small peg or plug for stopping the vent of a cask.
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a peg or plug for stopping the passage of liquid in a faucet or cock.
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a faucet or cock for controlling the flow of liquid from a pipe or the like.
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the end of a pipe that enters the enlarged end of another pipe to form a joint.
noun
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a stopper for the vent hole of a cask
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a tap, usually of wood, fitted to a cask
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a US name for tap 2
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a short cylindrical projection on one component designed to fit into a hole on another, esp the male part of a joint ( spigot and socket joint ) between two pipes
Regionalisms
See faucet.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of spigot
1350–1400; Middle English spigot, perhaps < Old French *espigot < Old Provençal espig ( a ) (< Latin spīca ear of grain; see spica) + Old French -ot diminutive suffix
Explanation
If you want to splash in a giant puddle, just leave the spigot open in your backyard. A spigot is a faucet, a device to turn water on and off. If you leave a spigot open, the water will keep flowing. In the U.S., most of us call an indoor valve (in the kitchen or bathroom) a faucet, and the outdoor one a spigot. In other English-speaking places, a spigot is a plug inserted in a cask, or one end of a pipe. It's not uncommon for this word to be pronounced “spicket,” with some dictionaries including that as an acceptable way to say it.
Vocabulary lists containing spigot
Seedfolks
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Clean Getaway
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At the same time, she found the tap water detainees used was often lukewarm, and the facility was using a spigot to refill water coolers for the East building.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
To that end, Meta is opening up the spigot.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
Without that money spigot, David Ellison’s own ventures look much more perilous.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026
It is past time to tighten the spigot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
From a spigot on the side of the building, he fills the bucket.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
His remarks suggest Treasury has identified the regime’s key cash spigots, maneuvers and enablers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
“They can turn these spigots on or off whenever they need to,” Sansoterra said of Big Tech’s capital expenditures.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2025
Throughout the campground, there are flush toilets, sinks to wash dishes and spigots with drinking water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2024
New York City’s estimated 275 mosques were among the first to host or counsel Muslim immigrants seeking shelter, halal food and water spigots used in pre-prayer ablutions.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
Just inside the wall was a row of waist-high water spigots.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
