spigot
Americannoun
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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.
Etymology
Origin of spigot
1350–1400; Middle English spigot, perhaps < Old French *espigot < Old Provençal espig ( a ) (< Latin spīca ear of grain; 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.
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
I knew the salary spigot would slam shut.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026
At the same time, use of the Fed’s standing repo facility — seen as a liquidity spigot for financial institutions in search of short-term cash to finance their operations — increased in late October.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 22, 2025
He lifted the spigot at the base of the oak barrel and captured a few ounces of amber liquid in a glass jelly jar.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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.
