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spigot

[spig-uh t]
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noun
  1. a small peg or plug for stopping the vent of a cask.
  2. a peg or plug for stopping the passage of liquid in a faucet or cock.
  3. a faucet or cock for controlling the flow of liquid from a pipe or the like.
  4. the end of a pipe that enters the enlarged end of another pipe to form a joint.
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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

Regional variation note

3. See faucet.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for spigot

Historical Examples

  • Represents a longitudinal section of a Spigot and Faucet Pipe.

    A Practical Treatise on Gas-light

    Fredrick Accum

  • He had corked three, but Jawleyford re-corked them, and Spigot was now reproducing them to our friends.

  • Spigot, at this moment entering to announce tea and coffee, was interrupted in his oration by Sponge demanding some brandy.

  • Spigot at last put an end to their efforts by announcing that 'tea and coffee were ready!'

British Dictionary definitions for spigot

spigot

noun
  1. a stopper for the vent hole of a cask
  2. a tap, usually of wood, fitted to a cask
  3. a US name for tap 2 (def. 1)
  4. 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
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Word Origin

C14: probably from Old Provençal espiga a head of grain, from Latin spīca a point
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 spigot

n.

late 14c., "plug used to stop the hole of a cask," probably from Old French *espigot (cf. Gascony dialect espigot "core of a fruit, small ear of grain"), diminutive of Old Provençal espiga "ear of grain," from Latin spica "ear of grain" (see spike (n.2)). Meaning "valve for controlling the flow of a liquid" is from 1520s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper