spigot, n.
(ˈspɪgət)
Forms: α. 4, 6 spigote, 5 speget, 5–6 spygott(e, spygot, 6–7 spigott, 4– spigot. β. 7 spigget, spiggott, 7–9 spiggot. See also spicket1 and spiddock.
[Of obscure history, but probably ad. early Prov. *espigot, f. espiga spike n.1
For the formation cf. mod.Prov. espigot (F. dial. épigot; OF. espigeot, F. dial. épigeot) a badly-threshed ear of grain. Some approximation in sense appears in Prov. espigoun, espigou (= Sp. espigon, Pg. espigão, It. spigone), rung of a ladder, bar of a chair, bung of a cask. Pg. espicho (:—L. spīculum) has the sense of ‘spigot’. Florio (1611) also gives It. spigo as ‘spigot’, but for this there appears to be no other evidence.]
1. A small wooden peg or pin used to stop the vent-hole of a barrel or cask; a vent-peg; a similar peg inserted into and controlling the opening or tube of a faucet and used to regulate the flow of liquor.
| α 1383–4 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 593 In iij duodenis de Spigotes empt. pro butelaria,..iijs. iiijd. 1388 Wyclif Job xxxii. 19 Lo! my wombe is as must with out spigot, ether a ventyng. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 724 Hec clipsidra, a spygotte. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 469/1 Spygot, clipsidra, ducillus, ductileum. 1531–2 Durham Househ. Bk. (Surtees) 74, 2 dd. spigotts et cannells. 1590 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 63 Spigotes and facetes, ij{supd}. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 24 O base hungarian wight: wilt thou the spigot wield? 1674 Grew Anat. Pl., Disc. Mixture (1682) 226 When one Atome is admitted into the..hole of another; as a Spigot is into a Fosset. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 568 If a careless servant does not mind to thrust the spigot fast into the barrel, the beer must necessarily run all away. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas ix. ix. ¶5 We have..wherewithal to keep the spit and the spigot in exercise. 1843 James Forest Days ix, A man with a mallet was busily engaged in driving a spigot and faucet to give discreet vent to the liquor within. 1896 Crockett Cleg Kelly viii. 61 Cleg went to the back of the door, where there was a keg with a spigot. |
| β 1570 Levins Manip. 177/11 A spiggotte, epistomium. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 23 Nothing but spiggots and faussets of discarded emptie barrels. 1658 tr. Porta's Nat. Magic. x. ii. 256 Pull out the Spigget, that the hot Water may run out. 1673 Ray Journ. Low Co. 462 They gather it [petroleum] up,..and put it in a barrel set on one end, which hath a spiggot just at the bottom. 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. iii. (ed. 2) 185 Sometimes the Weight of the Wort forces out the Spiggot. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 340 A small barrel of water at the top, furnished with a spiggot. |
b. fig. That which controls, lets out, or restrains.
Freq. used with reference to speech or language.
| 1780 Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 402 You must be very serious in what you say about a speech. Do but pull out the spigot and let it run, and nobody can sport a clearer or a sweeter stream. 1830 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 174 Something which he called the rudder of Government, but which was rather the spigot of Taxation. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 224 I should find such enemies in the preachers, that I might bung up my spigot. 1900 Lapsley Co. Pal. Durham 127 Having but a limited control of the spigot of taxation. |
† 2. A hollow wooden peg or tube used in drawing off liquor; a faucet. Obs.
Not always clearly distinguishable from sense 1.
| 1530 Palsgr. 693/2 I ronne, as lycour dothe out of a vessell by a spigot or faulset, whan it ronneth styll after a stynte. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xx. §3. 177 [To have] a little spigott, or quile att the outside of the hole, that by the narrow length of it helpeth in some sort (as it were) to sucke it. 1675 J. Rose Eng. Vineyard Vind. 43 Drawing out your must by a spigot at the bottom of your vessel. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Birch-Wine, [It] will need neither Stone nor Chip to keep it open, nor Spiggot to direct it to the Recipient. |
3. In figurative or allusive use: a. In various proverbial phrases (see quots.).
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 194 We apply the spigot, till tubbe stande a tilte. 1591 Greene Farewell to Follie Wks. (Grosart) IX. 249 The foole was a fidler, and knewe scarse a speare from a spigot. 1594 Lyly Mother Bombie ii. v, Memp. Ile teach my wag-halter to know grapes from barley. Pris. And I mine to discerne a spigot from a faucet. 1677 Miége Fr. Dict. ii. s.v. Spare, To spare at the spiggot, and let it run out at the bung-hole. |
b. brother, knight, man, son of the spigot, a tapster; a seller of liquor; an alehouse-keeper; hero, imp of the spigot, one who indulges in liquor.
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. i, ‘What, ho! John Tapster.’ ‘At hand, Will Hostler,’ replied the man of the spigot. Ibid. viii, When an old song comes across us merry old knights of the spigot, it runs away with our discretion. 1828 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. (1863) 42 Like that renowned hero of the spiggot [Boniface]. 1839 Sir J. Stephen Eccl. Biog. (1850) 309 Under the guidance..of the imp of the spigot, Martin Luther. |
4. A plain end of a pipe entering an enlargement (a ‘socket’ or ‘faucet’) of another as a means of forming a joint. Chiefly in attrib. phrases, as spigot and faucet joint, spigot and socket piece.
| 1797 J. Curr Coal Viewer 55 The joints [of jack-head pumps] may be either spigot and faucet, or hoboy joints run with lead and regulus. 1840 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 121/1 Some cocks of the smaller sizes have heretofore been cast with spigot and socket instead of flange outlets. Ibid., The outlets are generally made with flanges, to which a socket and spigot piece with corresponding flanges are bolted. 1849 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms, Northumb. & Durh. s.v., Spigot and Faucit, a description of pump joint, in which each pump is cast with a cup or faucit end; the other, or spigot end, being plain, for the purpose of insertion into the cup. |
b. An annular projection (as on a cylinder cover or a flange) entering a corresponding depression in the adjacent piece.
| 1900 Hasluck Mod. Eng. Handybk. 84 The spigots of the cylinder-covers are also chipped away the same width as the ports. |
5. attrib., as spigot-end, spigot-hole; also spigot-joint, a spigot and faucet joint; † spigot-sucker, one given to drinking or tippling.
| 1611 Cotgr., Pinteur, a tippler, pot-companion, spiggot-sucker. 1849 Spigot end [see 4 above]. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2266/1 Spigot (or Faucet) Joint. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 33 The..strainer placed over the spigot-hole within the mash-tub, to prevent the grains passing through into the wort. 1884 Harper's Mag. Sept. 608/2 The..creatures made their escape through the spigot-hole. |
Hence ˈspigot v. trans., (a) to thrust a spigot into (in quots. a 1809, 1824 fig.); (b) to insert in the manner of a spigot.
| a 1809 J. Palmer Like Master (1811) II. xiv. 211 But I must obey orders, or he might spigot me, mayhap, as they do in the foot-cavalry. 1824 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. 1853 I. 173/2 Did not you or your father flay the devil alive? Did not you spigot him nor singe him? 1910 Automobile Engineering 1911 19/3 Single separate cylinders..are spiggotted deeply into the crankcase. 1954 Automobile Engineer XLIV. 507/2 This cover is spigoted into the housing and bolted to the front wall of the box. |