Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A spittoon.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A spittoon.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Any ornamental vessel used as a spittoon; hence, to avoid the common term, a spittoon of any sort.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun US
spittoon
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a receptacle for spit (usually in a public place)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Why do they call themselves by the graceful name of "cuspidor" -- suggestive of castanets and Andalusian wiles?
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He spits out the coffee into a large brass cuspidor which is designed for the purpose.
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The house had a stereo with speakers the size of filing cabinets, a beer-filled refrigerator, and a brass cuspidor heaped with sinsemilla.
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Other sites include Word Spy, which is great and which a bunch of Wordie commenters have linked to, and My Favorite Word, which claims that Joyce's favorite word was "cuspidor." read more | digg story
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Ben shifted slightly and used a foot pedal to open a bronze cuspidor shaped like a turtle.
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Pergunta nº1: porque é que eu, ateu descrente, cuspidor em padrecos e pontapeador de bíblias, caio nestas tretas?
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Ben shifted slightly and used a foot pedal to open a bronze cuspidor shaped like a turtle.
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It was an ordinary outer office of the golden-oak variety, with a railing of spindles separating a telephone switchboard and two typewriter desks from two public settles and a brass cuspidor.
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The bed was rickety, with a thin knotty mattress; the sand-colored walls were scratched and gouged; in every corner, under everything, were fluffy dust and cigar ashes; on the tilted wash-stand was a nicked and squatty pitcher; the only chair was a grim straight object of spotty varnish; but there was an altogether splendid gilt and rose cuspidor.
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Quote from 1909 article: … the famous cuspidor curver … He broke the spitball in and out.
john commented on the word cuspidor
Supposedly Joyce's favorite word. If you Google "joyce spitoon" you'll get hundreds of references to this, but I couldn't find an actual source anywhere.
September 29, 2007
madmouth commented on the word cuspidor
Oh, Theodore, don't spit on the floor
Please use a cuspidor; that's what it's for
April 18, 2009