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.
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
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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.
Public companies can use their stock to open the financing spigot quickly.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
Without that money spigot, David Ellison’s own ventures look much more perilous.
From Slate • Mar. 20, 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
Analysts are scrounging for any signal about the economy’s trajectory this month because the government shutdown has turned off the spigot of official government data.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
He twisted a green spigot on a gas tank.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
