▪ I. spout, n.
(spaʊt)
Forms: 4–6 spowte, 6–7 (9) spowt (6 Sc. spowtt-, spowit); 5–7 spoute (5 spute), 6–7 Sc. spoutt-, 6– spout.
[ME. spowte, spoute, of doubtful origin, corresponding to older Flem. spuyte (also spoyte, spoeyte), Du. (and WFris.) spuit, NFris. spütj, spout, squirt, fire-engine; cf. MSw. eldsputa a fire-throwing war-engine, Norw. dial. sputa cuttle-fish. See spout v.]
I. 1. a. A pipe by which rain-water is carried off or discharged from a roof.
| 1392 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 113 In salario Ricardi de Bettes facientis guturas cum spowtis super quamdam novam cameram..cum plumbo de stauro ecclesiæ. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 697 Gargoyl & many hidous hed, With spoutis þoruȝ, & pipes. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 800 Hoc stillicidium, a spowte. 1538 in Lett. Suppress. Monast. (Camden) 198 Dyverse gutteres, spowtes, and condytes. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 166 In the fyrst worke were gargylles of golde fiersly faced with spoutes runnyng. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme i. iv. 7 The cesterne shall be set in such a place, as that it may receiue all that commeth from such spouts as are belonging to roofes or lower lofts of the house. c 1720 Prior Fatal Love 1 Poor Hal caught his death standing under a spout,..And curs'd was the weather that quench'd the man's flame. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 191 A spout (now of gold) discharges the rain-water, and the well Zemzem is protected by a dome. 1823 Act 4 Geo. IV, c. 3 §42 A Spout..from the Roof down to the Ground, to carry off..the Water. 1845 Alb. Smith Fort. Scattergood Fam. xxxii, The splashing cataracts from the eaves and spouts of the dwellings. |
b. A pipe or similar conduit through which water or other liquid flows and is discharged; that part of a fountain, pump, etc., from which the water issues.
| 1408 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1899) XIV. 517 Les spowtes lignea ducentia aquam a dicto Watergate usque dictam rotam. 1474–5 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 95 Factura unius le Spowte inter pandoxatorium et ortum porcorum. 1548 Extr. Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 259 Certane wther vark⁓lummes, sic as spowttis, spowcheouris, and cruikis, worth xxx s. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 122 The nose is giuen to man that it might serue the braine in stead of a pipe and spowt to purge it of flegmatike humours. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. ii. 77 She dreampt..she saw my Statue, Which like a Fountaine with an hundred spouts Did run pure blood. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii. 316 Betweene the Riuer and this pond, there are sixe passages or spouts digged through the Banke. 1705 Addison Italy 142 A beautiful Marble Fountain, where the Water runs continually thro' several little Spouts. 1747 Wesley Jrnl. Feb. (1849) I. 444 They brought an hand-engine;..the constable came, seized upon the spout of the engine, and carried it off. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) I. xx. 144 A hollow copper ball, with a long pipe;..through this spout it is to be filled with water. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 117 The spout of the pump should be opposite the horizontal part of the pipe. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1020 The situation of the spout or trunk of wood..for supplying water to the cisterns. 1858 Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Phil. 113, g i is a short tube proceeding from the side of the barrel... k is the spout of discharge. |
| fig. 1592 Timme Ten Eng. Lepers B iij, Some rashe heades being Conchæ, before they be Canales, that is to say, Spoutes, before they have filled their Cesterne. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. iii. 26 And (gasping to begin some speech) her eyes Became two spouts. 1885 Sat. Rev. 3 Jan. 2/1 Another type of Correspondent there is whose function is to serve as spout for this or that Continental statesman. |
† c. A syringe.
Obs.—1| 1546 T. Phaer Bk. Childr. X ij, Iuyce of purcelane:..dryue it in wyth a spoute called of the surgions a syrynge. |
† d. = spout-hole 1.
Obs.| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 197 They have..sharp and little teeth: great eyes. A spout betwixt the eyes. 1681 Grew Musæum i. 38 He squirts the water out at his Nostrils, in the same manner as the Dolphin doth at his Spout. 1747 Gentl. Mag. 174/2 His spouts are in his forehead, and not on the hinder part of his head, as in other whales. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) III. 27 The cachalot..with a spout in the neck; that with a spout in the snout. |
e. Mining. A short passage connecting an air-head with a gate-road.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 990 Lateral openings, named spouts, are led from the air-head gallery into the side of work. 1853 Ibid (ed. 4) II. 225 A series of ‘spouts’ or openings are driven upwards from the gate-road. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m., Spout, a short underground passage in the Thick-coal workings connecting a main road with an air-head. |
2. a. A tubular or lip-like addition to, or projection from, a vessel to facilitate the pouring out of liquid from it.
| 1444 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) II. 101, j laver cum ij spowtes deaurat. pond. vij unc. et dim. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 278 Mean-while the Skinker, from his starry spout, After the Goat, a silver stream pours out. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 113 They of Goa..drink out of a Copper-Can with a Spout. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. ii. 125 We took a Glass-Cruet, with a small Spout, and fill'd it with Water. 1755 Johnson, Beak,..the spout of a cup. 1790 Act 30 Geo. III, c. 31 §3 Spouts to China, Stone, or Earthen⁓ware Teapots. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 147 The larger rose, e, is used without the middle piece of the spout. 1846 Dickens Cricket on Hearth i, The kettle..carrying its handle with an air of defiance, and cocking its spout pertly. 1866 R. M. Ballantyne Shifting Winds i, He..willed to screw off the spout of the family tea-pot,..and..he did it. |
b. In pigeons: (see
quots.).
| 1879 L. Wright Pigeon Keeper 85 Carriers..are..peculiarly subject to ‘spouts’. Ibid. 231 Spouts..consist of a folded corner in the lower eyelid, through which there is a constant gradual drain of fluid. |
3. A contrivance having the form of a trough or box with open ends, by which flour, grain, coals, etc., are discharged from, or conveyed to, a receptacle; a shoot.
| 1557 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 110 The one clarke stode at the spoute Thereas the meale shoulde come out. 1629 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 15 [They] hewed doun to the ground the spouttes of the compleaners said mylne. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 136 There must be in each side of the Granaries, Three or Four long Troughs or Spouts fixt in the uppermost Loft. 1793 Earl Dundonald Descr. Estate Culross 55 Shipping the Coal, from an elevated Coal Steath and Spout, instead of by Hand-barrows. 1821 Acc. Peculations in Coal Trade 3 The Coals descending from a spout into the vessel. 1860 Mining Gloss., Newcastle Terms 64 Spouts, boxes down which the coals are run from the waggons into the ships. 1884 Tyne Improv. Comm. Bye-Laws 29 Pitch..shall not be boiled..within 40 feet of any staith, drop, spout, warehouse or other erection on or near to the dock. |
4. a. A lift formerly in use in pawnbrokers' shops, up which the articles pawned were taken for storage. Also
transf., a pawnshop.
| 1834 W. H. Ainsworth Rookwood II. iii. v. 345 To the spout with the sneezers in grand array. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xlii, Spout—dear relation—uncle Tom. 1855 Gentl. Mag. Oct. 446 Mr. Hull, pawnbroker,..committed suicide..by hanging himself within his ‘spout’. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 286 The half-pence rattle, shillings are tested, huge bundles rumble down the spout. 1866 Howells Venetian Life 108 Instead of many pawnbrokers' shops there is one large municipal spout. |
b. Hence
to put (or shove) up the spout, to pawn.
up the spout, pawned, pledged; also
fig., in a bad way, in a hopeless condition, out of the question.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v., To pledge any property at a pawnbroker's is termed..shoving it up the spout. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxx, Please to put that up the spout, ma'am, with my pins, and rings, and watch and chain, and things. 1886 D. C. Murray Cynic Fortune vii, I haven't a suit of clothes fit to go in; even my wig and gown are up the spout together. |
| fig. 1829 P. Egan Boxiana 2nd Ser. II. 351 At the expiration of thirty-five minutes, and seventeen rounds, the flue faker acknowledged he was ‘up the spout’. 1846 Swell's Night Guide 64 And when she saw all hope was up the spout, She spouted everything a spout would take. 1853 Dods Early Lett. (1910) 35 The fact is, Germany is up the spout, and consequently a damper is thrown over my hopes for next summer. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., ‘He's up the spout.’ A phrase applied to a person in a state of bankruptcy. 1857 Trollope Three Clerks xviii, I shall be up the spout altogether if you don't do something to help me. 1864 ― Small House at Allington xxxvi, He was regularly up the spout with accommodation bills. |
c. to put (someone) up the spout: to make pregnant (
esp. out of wedlock); also simply
up the spout, in the womb; pregnant.
Cf. up the pole s.v. pole n.1 1 b.
slang.| 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 815/2 Spout, up the,..pregnant with child... Often in form, to have been put up the spout. 1949 Landfall III. 234 Well, they say he put her up the spout. 1956 P. Scott Male Child ii. i. 95 All these years taking every possible care and suddenly there's one up the spout. 1970 ‘S. Troy’ Blind Man's Garden viii. 100 Up the spout, isn't she? I thought Michel would have had more bloody savvy. |
d. A gun barrel. Usu. in
phr. up the spout, of a bullet or cartridge: in the barrel and ready to be fired.
slang.| 1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 55 Spout, a gun barrel. 1943 R.A.F. Jrnl. Aug. 12 He'd a round up the spout from being on this guard..and when he pulled the trigger there was a bang and a flash. 1966 D. Varaday Gara-Yaka's Domain xi. 128 The pin failed to fire the dud cartridge in the chamber. There was no time to pump another into the spout. 1969 M. Gilbert Blood & Judgement vii. 70, I can count six here in the clip... There's probably one up the spout. 1976 G. Seymour Glory Boys xv. 191 The Uzi was concealed there. Wonder if he's put the catch off, thought Jimmy, put one up the spout. |
II. 5. Sc. A razor-fish.
| 1525 in Excerpta e Libr. Domicilii Jacobi Quinti (Bann. Cl.) 7 Bukes, spouttis, grenbans, podlokis. 1710 Sibbald Hist. Fife 55 The Sheath, or Razor Fish; our Fishers call them Spouts. 1742 Richardson De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. IV. 9 Scollops, and Spouts, are cast up by the Tide in such Numbers on the Isles, that the People cannot consume them. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scot. VII. 543 Lobsters, partens, cockles, muscles, and spouts or razor fish. 1806 Neill Tour 93 Besides..rasor-fish or spouts, they have abundance of what are called culleocks and smurlins. 1837 R. Dunn Ornith. Orkney & Shetl. 8 Razor-fish, commonly called spouts. |
6. a. A waterspout.
Common in 17th and 18th
cent.; now
rare.
| 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 386 They sawe certeyne stremes of water which they caule spoutes faulynge owt of the ayer into the sea. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. d iv b, He ought to haue expert coniecture of Stormes, Tempestes, and Spoutes. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 171 The dreadfull spout, Which Shipmen doe the Hurricano call. 1698 Froger Voy. 90 There we saw two of those pillars of water that arise out of the Sea, and which are commonly call'd Spouts. 1719 Phil. Trans. XXX. 1097 A vast breach in the Ground, which was made by a Spout, which fell upon Emott-more. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Water-spout, The whirlwinds and spouts are not always..in the day-time. 1819 Keats Song of Four Fairies 82 To the torrid spouts and fountains, Underneath earth-quaked mountains. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 382/2 Some spouts disappear almost as soon as they are formed, and others have been known to continue nearly an hour. |
b. A heavy downpour or pelt (
of rain).
| 1648 B. Plantagenet Descr. New Albion Pref. 3 The storm grew far more tempestuous with..terrible gusts and spouts, that made the rivers rise, and my friends to hide. 1692 Ray Disc. ii. ii. (1693) 74 Of great Spouts of Rain..that set the whole Countrey in a Flood. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xli. 319 The rain fell, not in drops, but in ‘spouts’. |
7. a. A discharge of water or other liquid, in some quantity and with some degree of force, from the mouth of a pipe or similar orifice.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 104 He maid a hundreth nolt all hawkit Beneth him with a spowt. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 153 With the turning of a cocke, spoutes of water rise up in great force. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Mrs. Thistlethwayte 1 Apr., Marble fountains in the lower part of the room, which throw up several spouts of water. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §317 note, This momentary Spout of the Edystone may perhaps be best compared with the momentary jet of boiling water..from the Fountain Geisser in Iceland! 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1044 The most usual form is a simple opening to throw the jet or spout upright. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxxii. 250 The red spout [of blood] gushed forth, and the victim fell forward. 1877 Black Green Past. xxxviii, These spouts and jets increased to a shower. |
| transf. 1771 Encycl. Brit. II. 124/2 The volatile phosphorus continues two hours; after which the little spout of light contracts to the length of a line or two. |
b. Spouting power or force.
rare.
| a 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) I. 405 Thus at b, the water had no spout for want of height to drive it; at c, the water hath no spout for want of room to descend. |
c. Agric. A spring of water forcing its way up through the soil.
| 1791 Statist. Acc. Scotl. I. 442 The land abounds with boggs and springs, or what husbandmen call spouts. 1801 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 414 The benefit arising from draining, whether by carrying away surface-water, or freeing the land from spouts, occasioned by water bursting out from higher grounds. 1840 J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 96 When wetness is caused by spouts or springs, rising from below, the object is to prevent the water rising to or saturating the soil. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 505, 4-feet drains have completely removed the spouts. |
d. The column of spray thrown into the air by a whale in the act of respiration.
| 1824 J. F. Cooper Pilot xvii, 'Tis a right whale,..I saw his spout. 1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 42 From the extremity of the nose the spout is thrown up. 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. vi. (1858) 78 Its spout..flashes up from the ocean just like smoke. 1898 F. T. Bullen Cruise Cachalot xviii. 217 We flew after a retreating spout to leeward. |
8. a. An outpour or rush of water falling from a higher to a lower level,
esp. in a detached stream; a waterfall or cascade of this kind.
| a 1700 Evelyn Diary 27 Feb. 1644, Before this grotto is a long poole into which ran divers spouts of water. 1775 A. Burnaby Trav. 29 Coming to a ledge of rocks, which runs..cross the river, it divides into two spouts... The spout on the Virginian side makes three falls. 1806 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. III. 388 The river rushes over the Auchinlilie Lin or Spout, a tremendous cataract. 1836 G. Back Arctic Land Exped. x. 334 The river, from an imposing width, now gradually contracted to about fifty yards... In the language of voyageurs, this form is denominated a spout. 1879 Stevenson Trav. Cevennes (1886) 126 A streamlet made a little spout over some stones to serve me for a water-tap. |
b. A similar fall of earth or rock.
| 1883 Stevenson Silverado Sq. 234 The great spout of broken mineral, which had damned the canyon up. 1883 ― Treas. Isl. xv, From the side of the hill..a spout of gravel was dislodged. |
9. a. slang. (See
quot.)
| 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss. s.v., He is in great spout, he is in high spirits. 1888 in Berkshire Gloss. 153. |
b. A recitation or declamation.
rare—1.
| 1832 Hood Stage-Struck Hero 59 If one should just break out, Perchance, into a little spout, A stick about the skull is. |
10. A spurt; a sudden dart.
| 1787 Burns Petit. Bruar Water ii, If, in their random, wanton spouts, They near the margin stray;..They're left..In gasping death to wallow. |
III. 11. attrib. and
Comb., as
spout-kind,
spout-like adj.;
spout-bath N.Z., a natural douche-bath;
spout-coals, coals loaded from a spout;
spout cup, (
a) a cup with a spout (now only
Hist.); (
b) the upper end of a rain-spout;
spout-fish, a mollusc which spouts or squirts out water,
esp. a razor-fish;
spout-head, (
a) a rose on a watering-can; (
b) a spring or fountain;
spout-mouth, (
a) a mouth resembling the spout of a vessel; (
b)
Mining (see
quot.);
spout-mouthed a., having a mouth shaped like a spout;
† spout-pen (see
quot.);
† spout-pitcher, a pitcher with a spout;
spout-plane (see
quot.);
† spout-pot, a pot with a spout;
spout-road Mining (see
quot.);
spout-shell Zool. (see
quots.);
spout-vessel, a coal-boat loaded by means of a spout;
spout-well, a well from which the water issues by a spout;
spout-whale [
cf. older
Flem. spuyt-wal], a spouting whale.
| 1929 C. C. Martindale Risen Sun 164 There are things in New Zealand that they call ‘*spout-baths’. A solid shining stream thuds on to your back from a height, and you feel as strong as it does. 1977 N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. 2–20/11 (Advt.), Rotorua Boulevard Motel, New units, sleep 1–6, restaurant adj, TV, putting green, hot swimming pool, 6 pvte spa and spout baths. |
| 1821 Acc. Peculat. in Coal Trade 5 Certificates..whereby he may see which are *spout or keel coals. |
| 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3806/8 An old fashioned *Spout Cup mark'd E.L. 1864 Atkinson Stanton Grange 11 A starling built its nest in one of the spout-cups to the eaves-gutters of our house. 1956 G. Taylor Silver iv. 80 Spout Cups. Found also in faience, they are no more than a tankard or two-handled cup..ending in a curved spout. 1970 Canadian Antiques Collector June 28/2 What were spout cups? Used to feed invalids and children. Popular in the 18th century. Bulbous body, domed cover, duck-neck spout with handle generally at the right angle to the spout. |
| 1805 Barry Orkney 287 The Razor,..or, as we name it, the *spout-fish, is also found in sandy places. 1895 Stand. Dict., Spout-fish, a bivalve that squirts water from its siphons, as the soft clam. 1904 E. Rickert Reaper 269 The Spanish treasure-ship..poured her silver among the tang and spout-fish. |
| 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 359 Pouring it through the streaming Holes of the *spout Head. 1818 Keats Endym. ii. 89 As if, athirst with so much toil, 'twould sip The crystal spout-head. |
| 1699 Evelyn Diary 26 Mar., A larger [whale] of the *Spout kind, was killed there 40 years ago. |
| 1829 Hood in The Gem 182 That damsel thrusting out a pair of pouting lips, still more *spout-like, at a rusty ribbon. 1875 Huxley & Martin Pract. Biol. xi. 109 A short open spout-like tube. |
| 1838 Carlyle in Froude Life in Lond. (1884) I. 135 Radical Grote.., a man with strait upper lip, large chin, and open mouth (*spout mouth). 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 63 Spout-mouth, a place on a level road where the material from a spout road is filled into the hutches. |
| c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. vii. lxi, *Spout-mouth'd Condore Button-shell. 1891 Meredith One of our Conq. xiv, We have..our spout-mouthed young man, our eminently silly woman. |
| 1713 Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. xiii, Strombus tuberosus..Knobbed *Spout-pen. |
| 1648 Hexham ii, Een Bespruyt⁓kruycke, a Sprinkling, or a *Spout-picher for gardens. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2288/2 *Spout-plane, a round-soled plane used in hollowing out stuff for spouting and troughs. |
| 1608 Willet Hexapla in Exod. 590 Vessels to powre in wine with, like vnto our *spout pots. 1631 in Wills Doctors' Comm. (Camden) 93 The deepe silver bason, the spout pott and maudlyn cupp of silver. |
| 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 404 *Spout-road, same as Cungit [= ‘a road in a mine driven out of the main road for the convenience of drawing the coals’]. 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 63 Spout-road,..a road so steep that the mineral slides down of itself to a level. |
| 1861 P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860 198 Family Aporrhaidæ. (*Spout Shells.) 1881 Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 209 The genus Aporrhais, or the ‘Spout-shell’, is a shell with an elongated spire. |
| 1821 Acc. Peculations in Coal Trade 3 This is the reason why a *spout vessel is preferred to a keel ship. |
| 1875 W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownshire 118 The spring of water..has been diverted into tiles, and forms a *spout-well. |
| 1701 Brand Descr. Orkney, etc. iv. (1703) 48 There are likewise a great number of little Whales,..which they call *spout-Whales or Pellacks. |
▪ II. spout, v. (
spaʊt)
Also 5–6
spoute, 5–7
spowt.
[ME. spouten, corresponding to MDu. spouten (spoyten), older Flem. spuyten, Du. spuiten (WFris. spuitsje), NFris. spūte, spütji, spjüte, MSwed. and Swed. dial. spūta: cf. spout n. (whence senses 7 and 8). The stem spūt- appears also in ON. and Icel. sp{yacu}ta (Norw. dial. spyte) to spit.] I. intr. 1. To discharge a liquid or other substance in a copious jet or stream; to gush with water, blood, etc. Also
const. with.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8196 When þey [the dragons] hadde longe to-gyder smyten, Spatled, spouted [v.r. spouted sperkes], belewed, & byten. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 293 With youre mouthe ye vse nowþer to squyrt nor spout. 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. ii. 2 Blow You Cataracts, and Hyrricano's, spout, Till you haue drench'd our Steeples, drown the Cockes. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 242 Is it now at last obscurely drawn forth, only to cure a scratch, and leave the main wound spouting? 1718 Pope Iliad xvi. 385 His arm falls spouting on the dust below. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 15/1 Coverings should be so disposed..that one may not spout upon the other. c 1812 Moore ‘Why is a Pump?’ 4 A pump..up and down its awkward arm doth sway, And coolly spout and spout and spout away. 1841 Whittier St. John 80 While the walls of thy castle Yet spouted with flame. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lxiii, There are some huge allegorical waterworks still, which spout and froth stupendously upon fête days. |
b. spec. Of a whale: To throw up spray in the act of respiration; to blow.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 223 When the seamen see a whale spout. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xviii, He sheered off, and spouted at a good distance. 1861 Holland Less. in Life x. 139 When the whales ceased spouting, the earth took up the business. |
c. To emit a morbid discharge. (
Cf. spout n. 2 b.)
| 1879 L. Wright Pigeon Keeper 104 There are eye-wattles that develop quickly, as in Carriers, though they are apt to ‘spout’ at a later date. |
2. Of liquids: To issue with some force and in some quantity from a narrow orifice; to spurt copiously.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxiii. 86, I man..lat the venim ische all out,—Be war, anone, for it will spout. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 90 Thee goare blood spowteth of eeche syde, And swyms in the thrashold. 1608 Middleton Trick to catch Old One iv. v, One cup more... Is the sack spouting? 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Amb. 191 At its breaking out of the Earth it spouts higher than the Sea it self. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 123 If they are deeply wounded in a dozen places, there will instantly gush out as many fountains of blood, spouting to a considerable distance. a 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) I. 405 It will not spout at all, but drivel down the side of the vessel. 1800 Vince Hydrost. i. (1806) 6 Whether the fluid spouts downwards, horizontally, upwards, or in any direction. 1874 T. Taylor Leic. Sq. xi. 272 A handsome basin..was planned for a jet d'eau, which..never spouted. |
b. With
out or
up.
| 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 18 There is a Pipe, that throws up a great deal of Water..with so much force that it spouts up almost as high as the Dome. 1722–7 Boyer Dict. Royal i. s.v. Rejaillir, A Fountain that spouts or spurts out, or up. 1803 Imison's Sci. & Art I. 252 If a hole be made in the side of a vessel, the water will spout out [horizontally]. 1885 Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines iii, A ribbon of white surf, which spouts up in pillars of foam. |
c. To spring, bound. Now
dial.| c 1650 in Percy's Fol. MS. (1867) I. 374 He spowted forward as he had beene a deere, till he was passed out of her sight. 1819– in Eng. Dial. Dict. |
3. fig. To engage in declamation or recitation; to make a speech or speeches,
esp. at great length or without much matter.
In J. Heywood
Sp. & Flie (1556) xxxix. 4, and R. Wilson
Coblers Prophesie (1594) B 2 b,
spout is used by ignorant speakers in place of
spute or
dispute.
| 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 36 A paltry, scribbling fool—to leave me out—He'll say perhaps—he thought I could not spout. 1780 F. Burney Diary May, I used to hear him spouting by the hour together. 1787 Ibid. 15 Aug., He began to spout, and act, and rattle away, with all his might. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life xv. Introd., What are you at now?..spouting to yourself like a mad stroller. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. iv. iv, The far-sounding Street-orators cease, or spout milder. 1878 E. Jenkins Haverholme 25 A practical man, spouting in the House about our national obligations to liberty. |
II. trans. 4. To discharge, cast out, or pour forth (water, etc.) in a stream of some force and volume.
| 13.. [see 1]. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 1097 A condit coold into hit bringe aboute, Make pipis watir warm inward to spoute. c 1440 Alph. Tales 416 He consydurd þe depenes of þis pytt, & he saw þer-in ane vglie dragon spowtand fyre. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xviii. 79 A dragon..Havyng thre hedes divers in fygure, Whych in a bathe..Spouted the water. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. iii. i. x. 100 Let thys decoction be spouted into the wounde..wyth a syrynge. 1599 Dallam in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.) 11 We saw 2 or 3 greate monstrus fishis or whales, the which did spoute water up into the eayere. 1635 Heywood Hierarchy i. 6 From the dry stones he can water spout. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 25 She took a mouthfull of claret, and spouted it into the poope of the hollow bird. 1739 R. Bull tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus 248 b, The Parish Engine spouts excessive Streams To quench the Blaze. 1835 Hawthorne Tales & Sk. (1879) 75 It was composed of large logs,..blazing fiercely, spouting showers of sparks into the darkness. 1870 Bryant Iliad iv. I. 126 The surge Tosses on high and spouts its foam afar. |
| fig. 1568 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 51 So where thou thoughtst to spoute thy spite, thou hast hir brought to blisse. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. (Grosart) V. 232 Neuer since I spouted incke, was I of woorse aptitude [etc.]. 1671 Barrow Duty & Reward Charity 12 The good Man doth not plant his bounty in one small hole, or spout it on one narrow spot. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxix. (1856) 359 A group of narwhals, imprisoned by the congelation,..spouted their release. 1859 Meredith R. Feverel xl, Each one..laughed, and looked shocked afterwards, or looked shocked, and then spouted laughter. |
b. With
out.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxii. (Bodl. MS.), Ȝif a man is vnder water with oile in his mouþe & spowteþ oute þe oile [etc.]. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 44 Sche into the mane sey spoutis out thir v. fludes. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 416 Leviathan..at his Gilles Draws in, and at his Trunck spouts out a Sea. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 454 He observed two large holes.., which he imagines to have been the apertures through which the fish spouted out the water. 1839 Darwin Voy. Nat. xv. 336 The volcano of Osorno was spouting out volumes of smoke. |
| fig. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 401 Nouther left thair wod..barbaritie, quhil out tha spoutit it vpon the Carmelitis, dominicanis, and Franciscanis. 1820 Hazlitt Table-T. Ser. ii. i. (1869) 4 Spouting out torrents of puddled politics from his mouth. |
c. With
up.
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 487 Who kepte Ionas in the fisshes mawe Til he was spouted vp at Nynyuee? a 1700 Evelyn Diary 5 May 1645, In one of these..is an Atlas spouting up the streame to a very great height. 1796 T. Twining Trav. India, etc. (1894) 17, I distinctly saw and heard these fish spout up the sea to the height of several feet. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. v. vi, By a mixture of phosphorus and oil-of-turpentine spouted up through forcing pumps. |
5. To wet or drench by a stream of liquid.
| 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 269 The bathing or spowting hir with water is a meane to make the powder to frette awaye, and containe the hawkes feathers. 1886 C. Scott Sheep-farming 135 After draining for a short time, they are passed down shoots to the men at the spouts, where..they are well spouted. |
6. To utter readily or volubly; to talk (a language); to declaim or recite.
| 1612 Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb iv. i, And can you these tongues perfectly?.. Pray spout some French. 1627 W. Hawkins Apollo Shroving i. i. 7 I'de rather spinne at home, then heare these Barbarians spout Latine. 1667 Dryden Sir Martin Mar-all iv. i, I hope I am old enough to spout English with you, sir? 1771 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) I. 128 Dr. King has been with me all the afternoon, amusing himself with spouting Shakespeare, Pope, and others. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 327 His skill..In bilking tavern bills, and spouting plays. 1808 Scott in Lockhart (1837) I. i. 35, I spouted the speech of Galgacus at the public examination. 1852 Jerdan Autobiog. I. xix. 144 Doing nothing but teach the wife of his lodging-house host to spout tragedy. 1889 Ruskin Præterita III. 57, I heard Macaulay spout the first chapter of Isaiah. |
7. [
f. spout n.]
slang. To pawn.
| 1811 Lexicon Balatronicum, Spouted, pawned. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v., To pledge any property at a pawnbroker's is termed spouting it. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis lxi, He wouldn't spout the fenders and fire-irons—he ain't so bad as that. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxiv, The dons are going to spout the college plate. |
8. To fit or furnish with spouts.
| 1853 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8) II. 268/2 To have the eaves of the whole building spouted. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 22 Jan. 6/3 Why should they not have houses properly built, properly spouted and roofed to keep out the wet. |