▪ I. ˈspitting, vbl. n.1
[f. spit v.1]
The action of piercing with, or fixing on, a spit. Also attrib.
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iv. 183 This respite..enter'd me..with a spitting power and made to tremble The region of my Breast. 1631 Mabbe Celestina xv. 164 Shee used such diligence..that shee drew water at the second spitting. 1648 Hexham ii, Aen't Spit-stekinge, a Spitting, or a Broaching of meate. |
▪ II. ˈspitting, vbl. n.2 [f. spit v.2] 1. a. The action of ejecting saliva from the mouth; expectoration.
| 13.. K. Alis. 898 (Linc.), Hadde he biden ony þing, Abouȝt he hadde his spittyng. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxi. 5, I am reproue of men, in spittynge, buffetynge, and pungynge with þe thornes. c 1430 Freemasonry (Halliw. 1840) 711 From spyttynge and snyftynge kepe the also. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 250 b, His betynges & buffetynges.., with spyttynges, bobbynges & other turmentes. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Excreatio, a spittyng out with retchynge. 1609 B. Jonson Silent Woman iv. i, The spitting, the coughing, the laughter, the neesing. 1648 Sanderson Serm. II. 235 Clamours and outcries, railing, and spitting, and buffeting. 1733 Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. ix. §5 (1734) 212 The Spitting or Salivation, so common in Nervous Distempers. 1786 J. Hunter Treat. Vener. Dis. vi. i. (1810) 456 He rubbed in..mercurial ointment, and had a slight spitting. 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 506, I looked..for a return of his consumptive symptoms after the spitting had ceased. 1872 Darwin Emotions xi. 260 Spitting seems an almost universal sign of contempt or disgust. |
b. Const.
of (blood, fire, etc.).
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Excreatio, It is bruysed..against spittyng of bludde. 1634 Massinger Very Woman iii. v, Here will be spitting of fire o' both sides presently! 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v., When this Spitting of Blood comes from the Stomach. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 339 Spitting of blood is generally preceded by a sense of weight. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxii. 261 We are surprised to find that cases of spitting of blood are not much more frequent. |
2. Saliva ejected from the mouth; spittle.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 25489 Iesus, þat wald..Þi suete face..With Iuus spitting file. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 655 Of þe comes mykel foul thyng, Als fen, and uryn and spyttyng. 1483 Cath. Angl. 355/2 To cast Spyttynge, desputare, exscreare. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 210 All Berards brags were as so many spittings vomited up against heaven. 1691 tr. Emiliane's Observ. Journ. Naples 114 So that the Precious Blood..is spilt upon the Ground, amongst the Filth and Spittings of the People. 1701 Stanhope Pious Breathings vii. ix. 333 That adorable face..was then defiled..with the spittings of unhallowed lips. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. v. v, In descending, he received a spitting (crachat) on the head, and some others on his clothes. |
3. a. Sputtering;
spec. of molten silver.
| 1611 Cotgr., Petillement,..the spitting of a candle. |
| 1866 Chambers' Encycl. VIII. 729/2 Silver,..when..it is fused,..absorbs a considerable quantity of oxygen, which it expels in the act of solidification with a peculiar sound, technically known as spitting. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 71/1 The presence of even very little base metal in the silver prevents this ‘spitting’. |
b. A slight sprinkle or shower of rain.
| 1707 in R. M. F. Watson Closeburn (1901) App. 274 All..shall be reckoned but as spittings before the great shower. 1869– in dial. glossaries. |
c. techn. (See
quot.)
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 271/1 In the needle-gun..the ‘spitting’ of fire at the breech is inconveniently great. |
4. attrib. a. In sense ‘for spitting in or on’, as
spitting-box,
spitting-cup,
spitting-dish,
spitting-kettle,
spitting-mug,
spitting-pan, etc.
| 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, A *spitting Box, un Crachoir. 1794 Parr Let. Maltby Wks. 1828 VIII. 336 Is there a smoking room, an arm-chair, a spitting-box, a wax-candle? 1834 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 88 A large tin spitting⁓box [was] fixed to his chest by a strap over the shoulders. |
| 1684 Hedges Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 149 A Beetle Box, Plate, Arrack Bowl, *Spitting Cup, and Silver handle for a Fan. |
| 1706 Stevens Span. Dict. i, Escupidero, a *spitting Dish. |
| 1815 Hist. J. Decastro III. 339 Let's have..pipes and tobacco, some sawdust and a *spitting kettle. |
| 1895 Army & Navy Price List 15 Sept. 1316/1 *Spitting Mugs. |
| 1834 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 88 There were *spitting-pans placed in different parts of the decks for the use of the men. |
| 1731–8 Swift Polite Conv. 39 Come, pray, stand out of my *spitting place. |
| 1727 Pope, etc. Art of Sinking 125 Paint, diet-drinks, *spitting-pots, and all other necessaries of life. 1776 Pennsylv. Even. Post 27 Apr. 212/1 Blue and white artichoke cups and spitting pots. 1836 J. M. Gully Magendie's Formul. 127 The water used in washing the spitting-pots. |
| 1662 Pepys Diary 21 Nov., To bed this night, having first put up a *spitting-sheet, which I find very convenient. 1684 A. Hall Will (Somerset Ho.), One paire of spitting sheetes now used upon my bed. 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 164 They left me, looking all over like an old Man's Spitting-sheet. |
| 1831 J. Jekyll Corr. (1894) 286 The cigar-smokers of Dublin use *spitting vases in the shape of mitres. |
b. In sense of ‘facilitating or inducing spitting’, as
spitting-drop,
spitting-pill.
| 1629 Massinger Picture iv. ii, He's acquainted With the green water, and the spitting-pill's Familiar to him. 1692 Poor Robin's Alm. Advt., Spitting-Drops, that any one may safely take. |
c. Misc., as
spitting distance,
spitting exordium,
spitting range,
spitting sickness.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. (Grosart) V. 245 This counterpoyson of the spitting sickenesse. 1600 Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. i. xii. H iv, He [Montaigne]..forceth you not to attention with a hem, and a spitting Exordium. 1774 J. Edwards Hist. Redemp. ii. ii. (1788) 226 He did not think it too much..to become the laughing-stock and spitting-stock of the vilest of men. 1895 Sir H. Maxwell Dk. Brit. xix. 280 You had him almost within spitting range. 1959 P. Bull I know Face, but.. iv. 70 One of the reasons I had closed with the Chatham offer was that it was within spitting distance of London. 1965 Listener 3 June 841/3 All this the spectators can see at spitting distance. 1977 Western Mail (Cardiff) 5 Mar. 6/1 More than doubled pre-tax profits has taken the Midland Bank to within spitting distance of its two giant High Street rivals—National Westminster and Barclays. |
▪ III. ˈspitting, vbl. n.3 Now
dial. [f. spit v.3] The action of digging, or of ploughing to a spade-depth; a small trench made with a spade.
| 1594 Min. Archd. Colch. (MS.) fol. 25 b, Frauncis Fromont, the sonne, of Lytleburye, dyd work all daye vppon St. James daye at spitting of saffron ground in Walden. 1648 Hexham ii, Een spadinge, ofte spittinge, a Spading, or a Spitting. 1764 Randall Semi-Virgilian Husb. Introd. lv, This action of the Sun is most considerable in Ridge work, especially in the Double Spitting, in the destruction of Weeds. 1892 in Eng. Dial. Dict. |
▪ IV. ˈspitting, ppl. a. [f. spit v.2] 1. That spits, in various (chiefly
transf.) senses of the verb.
| 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. E ij, A linnine slop in spitting snowe. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. 1, Cracheur, a spitting (or spawling) man. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 211 The spitting snow-dust raised by the wind. 1888 W. B. Churchward Blackbirding 81, I saw the spitting flashes and heard the bangs. 1901 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eye-witness xii. (1902) 252 There is a roar from the razor-back, an angry spitting reply from the donga. 1910 W. B. Yeats Green Helmet 33 With my spitting-cat heads, my frenzied moon-bred band. 1953 Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1954) 48 And in Willy Nilly the Postman's dark and sizzling damp tea-coated misty pygmy kitchen where the spittingcat kettles throb and hop on the range. |
2. In specific names of reptiles, etc., as
spitting asp,
click-beetle,
gecko,
snake;
spitting cobra, the African black-necked cobra,
Naja nigricollis.
| 1653 Rowland Topsell's Serpents 653 The Ptyas or spitting [1608 spetting] Asp resembleth an Ash colour. 1802 Shaw Gen. Zool. III. i. 279 Spitting Gecko. Lacerta Sputator. 1855 Morton Cycl. Agric. I. 47 A[griotes] sputator.—The pasture or spitting click-beetle is much smaller than A. obscurus. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 197/1 One [genus], Sepedon hæmachates,..or ‘Ring-Neck Snake,’..shares with the cobra a third Dutch name, that of ‘spuw slang’ (Spitting Snake). 1931 R. L. Ditmars Snakes of World xiii. 167 The Spitting Cobra or Black-necked Cobra..comes close to being the most dangerous snake of Africa. 1976 G. Durrell Stationary Ark ii. 28 This [word] was expectorated with a venom that would have done credit to a spitting cobra. |
3. spitting image, alteration of
spitten image (see
spitten a.).
Cf. splitting image s.v. splitting ppl. a. 5.
| 1901 A. H. Rice Mrs. Wiggs vii. 94 He's jes' like his pa—the very spittin' image of him! 1917 A. W. Blue Quay Head Tryst 70 He's the spittin image o' a thrawn fechter. 1929 H. S. Walpole Hans Frost iii. v. 370 In another twenty years..she would be her mother's spitting image. 1938 N. Coward Operette i. vii. 58 Believe it or not, she was the spitting image of Princess Ena! 1960 H. Pinter Caretaker ii. 33 Your spitting image he was. a 1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 243 Far from adapting himself to his new position he is adapting his new position to himself (No. 10, as I saw the other day, is the spitting image of his little house in Hampstead). |