▪ I. spet, n.1 Now dial.
[f. spet v.]
The or an act of spitting; spit, spittle. Also Comb.
| 1446 Lydg. Nightingale P. i. 259 Hogh that the Iewes..There all defouled with spet his blessed face. 1570 Levins Manip. 86 Spet or spetting, sputum. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse Wks. (Grosart) II. 67 Would you..gesse it were possible for anie shame-swolne toad to haue the spet-proofe face to out liue this disgrace? a 1658 Lovelace Lucasta, Posth. 42 The speckl'd Toad..Defies his foe with a fell Spet. 1882 T. Hardy Two on Tower xxii, Well, when I found 'twas Sir Blount my spet dried up within me. |
▪ II. spet, n.2 U.S.
[a. F. spet, = Sp. espeto(n).]
A species of barracuda, the Sphyræna sphyræna (S. spet) of Europe.
| 1896 D. S. Jordan & B. W. Evermann Fishes N. & Mid. Amer. i. 826 Sphyræna sphyræna (Linnæus). European Barracuda; Spet; Sennet. |
▪ III. spet, v. Now dial.
[Alteration of spete v., after pa. tense and pple. spet(te.]
To spit, in various senses; to expectorate. (Freq. c 1550–c 1630.) a. intr.
| c 1421 26 Pol. Poems 91 She spettes on me, and doþ me fyȝe. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 147 A certain saucy..young spryngall..spetted even in the veraye face of hym. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xii. xviii. (1886) 219 Spet into the shoo of your right foote. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 42 Their sumptuous Churches (in which it is a great trespasse so much as to spet). 1655 Culpepper, etc. Riverius vi. i. 130 They who have the Tooth-ach, do continually spet. 1867 H. J. Daniel Muse in Motley 43 He wud spet, Iss, spetty like a toad. 1881– in southern dial. glossaries. |
| fig. 1621 Bp. Hall Heaven upon Earth §25 He that sits in heauen..bids his winds spet sometimes in thy face. |
b. trans. Also const. in, out, up. Freq. fig.
| 1532 More Confut. Barnes Wks. 736/1 All hys deuelyshe lies which he spetteth and speweth oute vpon honest men. 1573 Baret Alv. s.v., To spette out his poyson: to speake the worste that he can. 1598 Marston Pygmal., Sat. ii. 152 Spett in thy poyson theyr fair acts among. 1634 Milton Comus 132 When the Dragon woom Of Stygian darknes spets her thickest gloom. 1639 O. Wood Alph. Bk. Secrets 87 [Let him] spet from him the rhewme in a Bason as often as he needeth. Ibid. 115 Then spet it forth. Ibid. 167 Spet out the rhewme as it comes. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 148 A thirsty Train That..spet from their dry Chaps the gather'd dust again. 1895 ‘Rosemary’ Chilterns ii. 55 Don't tech it!—that ull spet pison if you do. |
Hence ˈspetter; ˈspetting vbl. n.
| c 1460 Vrbanitatis 19 in Babees Bk., Fro spettyng & snetyng kepe þe also. 1548 Elyot, Excreatio, a spettyng out. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Cracheur, a spetter. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 550 Those which are molested with corrupt and bloody spettings with retchings. 1648 Hexham ii, Een Spouwer, a Spetter, or a Spuer. 1655 Culpepper, etc., Riverius vii. vi. 164 Usually the word Hœmoptysis doth signifie al manner of Spetting of blood. |
▪ IV. spet
obs. f. spit n.1; obs. or dial. pa. tense of spit v.2
▪ V. spet(te
obs. pres. t. speed v.; obs. ff. spit n.1; see spit v.2