spit

Pronunciation: /spɪt/

The English word “spit” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire.
A generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula or bar.
Saliva, especially when expectorated.
An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of rain or snow.
Likeness; used, usually in set phrases (see spitting image) of a person who exactly resembles someone else.
Synonym of slam (“card game”).
The depth to which the blade of a spade goes into the soil when it is used for digging; a layer of soil of the depth of a spade's blade.
The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful.

verb

To impale on a spit; to pierce with a sharp object.
To use a spit to cook; to attend to food that is cooking on a spit.
To evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.
To emit or expel in a manner similar to evacuating saliva from the mouth.
To rain or snow slightly.
To utter (something) violently.
To make a spitting sound, like an angry cat.
To rap, to utter.
(in the form spitting) To spit facts; to tell the truth.
To dig (something) using a spade; also, to turn (the soil) using a plough.
To plant (something) using a spade.
To dig, to spade.

Etymology

The noun is from Middle English spit, spite, spete, spette, spyte, spytte (“rod on which meat is cooked; rod used as a torture instrument; short spear; point of a spear; spine in the fin of a fish; pointed object; dagger symbol; land projecting into the sea”), from Old English spitu (“rod on which meat is cooked; spit”), from Proto-Germanic *spitō (“rod; skewer; spike”), *spituz (“rod on which…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.