spit

Meanings

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.
• Saliva, especially when expectorated.
• An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of rain or snow.
• A person who exactly resembles someone else (usually in set phrases; see spitting image)
• Synonym of slam
• 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; specifically, to rain or snow slightly.
• To utter (something) violently.
• To rap, to utter.
• To make a spitting sound, like an angry cat.
• To dig (something) using a spade; also, to turn (the soil) using a plough.
• To plant (something) using a spade.
• To dig, to spade.

Origin

• The noun is from Middle English spit, spite, spete, spette, spyte, spytte, from Old English spitu, from Proto-Germanic *spitō, *spituz, from Proto-Indo-European *spid-, *spey-. The English word is cognate with Danish spid, Dutch spit, German Low German Spitt, Swedish spett.
• The verb is derived from the noun, or from Middle English spiten, from spit, spite: see above. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch speten, spitten (modern Dutch speten), Middle Low German speten (Low German spitten, modern German spießen, spissen ).
• The verb is from Middle English speten, spete, from Old English spǣtan; or from Middle English spit, spitte, spitten, from Old English spittan, spyttan, both from Proto-Germanic, from Proto-Indo-European *sp(y)ēw, *spyū, ultimately imitative; compare Middle English spitelen and English spew. The English word is cognate with Danish spytte, North Frisian spütte, Norwegian spytte, Swedish spotta, Old Norse spýta (Faroese spýta, Icelandic spýta).
• The noun is derived from the verb; compare Danish spyt, Middle English spit, spytte, spet, spetel, North Frisian spiit.
• The noun is from Middle Dutch speet, spit, Middle Low German spêdt, spit (Low German spit); the word is cognate with Dutch spit, North Frisian spatt, spet, West Frisian spit.
• The verb is from Middle English spitten, from Old English spittan, possibly from spitu; see further at etymology 1. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch spetten, spitten (modern Dutch spitten), Middle Low German speten, spitten (Low German spitten), North Frisian spat, West Frisian spitte.