spit

¹ American  

[spit] / spɪt /

verb (used without object)

spit, spat, spitting

1. to eject saliva from the mouth; expectorate.

2. to express hatred, contempt, etc., by or as if by ejecting saliva from the mouth.

3. to sputter.

   grease spitting on the fire.

   Synonyms:

   spatter

4. to fall in scattered drops or flakes, as rain or snow.

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verb (used with object)

spit, spat, spitting

1. to eject from the mouth.

   The children were spitting watermelon seeds over the fence.

2. to throw out or emit like saliva.

   The kettle spits boiling water over the stove.

3. to set a flame to.

noun

1. saliva, especially when ejected.

2. the act of spitting.

3. Also called spittle. Entomology. the frothy secretion exuded by spittlebugs.

4. a light fall of rain or snow.

verb phrase

1. spit up to vomit; throw up.

   The wounded soldier spat up blood.

   If you jostle the baby, she'll spit up.

idioms

1. spit and image, exact likeness; counterpart: Also spitting image, spit 'n' image.

   Hunched over his desk, pen in hand, he was the spit and image of his father at work.

spit ² American  

[spit] / spɪt /

noun

1. a pointed rod or bar for thrusting through and holding meat that is to be cooked before or over a fire.

2. any of various rods, pins, or the like used for particular purposes.

3. a narrow point of land projecting into the water.

4. a long, narrow shoal extending from the shore.

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verb (used with object)

spitted, spitting

1. to pierce, stab, or transfix, as with a spit; impale on something sharp.

2. to thrust a spit into or through.

spit ¹ British  

/ spɪt /

verb

1. (intr) to expel saliva from the mouth; expectorate

2. informal (intr) to show disdain or hatred by spitting

3. (of a fire, hot fat, etc) to eject (fragments of coal, sparks, etc) violently and with an explosive sound; splutter

4. (intr) to rain very lightly

5. to eject or discharge (something) from the mouth

   he spat the food out

   to spit blood

6. to utter (short sharp words or syllables), esp in a violent manner

7. Also (NZ): spit tacks. slang to be very angry

8. informal a command given to someone that he should speak forthwith

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noun

1. another name for spittle

2. a light or brief fall of rain, snow, etc

3. the act or an instance of spitting

4. informal another word for spitting image

spit ² British  

/ spɪt /

noun

1. a pointed rod on which meat is skewered and roasted before or over an open fire

2. Also called: rotisserie, rotating spit. a similar device rotated by electricity or clockwork, fitted onto a cooker

3. an elongated often hooked strip of sand or shingle projecting from the shore, deposited by longshore drift, and usually above water

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verb

1. (tr) to impale on or transfix with or as if with a spit

spit ³ British  

/ spɪt /

noun

1. the depth of earth cut by a spade; a spade's depth

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Other Word Forms

• spitter
  noun
• spitlike
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of spit¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English verb spitten, spit(te), Old English spyttan, spittan; cognate with Old Norse spýta, German (dialect) spitzen “to spit”; the noun is derivative of the verb

Origin of spit²

First recorded before 1000; Middle English spit(e), spitte, Old English spitu; cognate with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German spit, spet, Old High German spiz “spit”; akin to Old Norse spīta “wooden peg, spit”

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Explanation

To spit is to propel saliva—which is also called spit—from your mouth. Generally speaking, it's rude to spit, particularly if you're at a fancy dinner party. There are some parts of the world where it's socially acceptable to spit in public, and it was once accepted in most of the West too. During the Middle Ages, Western Europeans found it less polite to "suck back" spit than to, well, spit. And spittoons, receptacles for spitting in, were common until the early 20th century, when the influenza epidemic and public health campaigns about tuberculosis greatly reduced public spitting.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spit spat spitted spitting

Like my own trips to Blackpool as a player, it was spit and sawdust but everyone bought into it and attacked every challenge with great gusto and spirit.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

“I reasoned that the intensity of his anger at me, anger that could make him spit and throw things, was proportionate to the intensity of our creative connection,” Dunham wrote in the book.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

General Services Administration and billed under the tagline “Whatever you need from government, start here,” the chatbot is designed to scour federal websites and spit out official information in response to users’ queries.

From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2026

Health trackers might spit out unreliable numbers, but doctors say they’re still useful for spotting personal trends.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Seth’s cough had become worse, and after an afternoon smoking fish he’d started to wheeze and spit out green phlegm, but the master did nothing about it.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

“A star had told him he’d make a fortune from the treasures the woods spat out.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

Gen. Rob Bonta vowed on social media as the spat escalated early Tuesday morning.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026

BBC's Nada Tawfik was in Detroit, Michigan where the party spat unfolded.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

I’ve seen Tanden get into a headline-making spat with progressive blogger Matt Bruenig; I’ve even watched her carry on a one-sided vendetta against Susan Sarandon.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026

Christopher spat out the tooth into his hand and turned to Naravirala.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

That’s because the first preseason practice of the Kalen DeBoer era was greeted with a sudden bout of Pacific Northwest weather, as rain spitted on the turf inside Husky Stadium Thursday.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2022

Defendant Browder instead chose to plead his own case, ably belabored the technical charge on which he was spitted.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the King had plenty for himself, his party, and for a banquet of spitted laham-mashwy and rice pilaff for the ship's officers.

From Time Magazine Archive

The whole world is invited, as many reputations as possible are spitted and turned slowly over a sizzling fire, the fumes purposely wafted this way and that.

From Time Magazine Archive

They had been standing over the fire with a spitted pig, a yearling.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Some have questioned why those officiating the competition in Beijing last weekend did not intervene when the athlete soiled herself, given that Hyrox penalises acts including spitting and littering.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Unfortunately for Khan and Fabre, not everyone is sipping and spitting at Medoc.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

It warrants no qualifiers, no deeper thought, because Boy George clearly didn’t think too hard about it himself before spitting it out into the world.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

They later identified Solomon as the suspect through a takeout order he was carrying when the spitting incident occurred and took him into custody at his apartment home nearby.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

I turned quickly to the spitting man and smiled like I wanted him to buy me a chocolate.

From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron

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