What does "spit" mean?
A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire.
Spit
/spɪt/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire.
- Grammar: spit is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: spittle, andiron, assibilate, assibilation.
- Useful contrasts: persuasive sample, absorb, approval.
- Usage evidence: In Singapore, it is a crime to spit on the ground.
How to use "spit"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "spit" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "spit" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "spit" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "spit" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "spit" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "spittle" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "spit", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire.
"They roaſt a fowl, by running a piece of wood through it, by way of ſpit, and holding it over a briſk fire, until the feathers are burnt of, when it is ready for eating, in their taſte."
- 2 Saliva, especially when expectorated. uncountable
"There was spit all over the washbasin."
- 3 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.
"They [the potatoes] ſtood till October, when they were taken up, and a large pye made of them; which is laying them up in a heap, and covering them with ſtraw and a ſpit of earth."
- 4 Abbreviation of spam over Internet telephony. Internet, abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable
- 5 the act of spitting (forcefully expelling saliva) wordnet
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 A generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula or bar.
"Sand-spits are unfinished beaches, and long tongues or points of land, formed of sand and shingle, by the transporting action of currents and the waves. In Coldspring harbor, a sand-spit extends from the west shore, obliquely, nearly across. [...] The materials are transported by the currents and waves, and deposited to form this spit."
- 7 An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of rain or snow. countable
"It was early winter in the southern continent, a season of rain and winds and mud, and indeed coals in a nearby brazier hissed with a few spits of rain."
- 8 The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful.
"Dig your clay with a ſpade in ſpits of ordinary bricks; dig two, three, eight, ten or twenty loads of clay, more or leſs as you pleaſe; [...] then take theſe ſpits of clay, after they are tried in the ſun, ſurround your pile of wood with them, [...]"
- 9 a skewer for holding meat over a fire wordnet
- 10 Likeness; used, usually in set phrases (see spitting image) of a person who exactly resembles someone else. countable, uncountable
"[…] according to some of the elders of the village, young Philip was the “very spit” of his father, as they once remembered him […]"
- 11 a clear liquid secreted into the mouth by the salivary glands and mucous glands of the mouth; moistens the mouth and starts the digestion of starches wordnet
- 12 Synonym of slam (“card game”). uncountable
- 13 a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea wordnet
Verb
- 1 To impale on a spit; to pierce with a sharp object. transitive
"to spit a loin of veal"
- 2 To evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc. ambitransitive
"And they ſpit upon him [Jesus Christ], and tooke the reed, and ſmote him on the head."
- 3 To dig (something) using a spade; also, to turn (the soil) using a plough. dialectal, transitive
"[T]he double plough, by taking faſt hold of the mould, throws all back again; and if the vegetables are not effectually earthed up, which may be the caſe after double ſpitting the intervals, then running the double plough over again, completes the buſineſs, and ſtrangely toſſes about and mellows the mould."
- 4 expel or eject (saliva or phlegm or sputum) from the mouth wordnet
- 5 To use a spit to cook; to attend to food that is cooking on a spit. transitive
"She’s spitting the roast in the kitchen."
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 To emit or expel in a manner similar to evacuating saliva from the mouth. ambitransitive
"a hot pan spitting droplets of fat"
- 7 To plant (something) using a spade. dialectal, transitive
"When the [peach] seed is procured it is either "spitted in" with a spade or planted in rows in the nursery."
- 8 utter with anger or contempt wordnet
- 9 To rain or snow slightly. impersonal
""There! now, Strickland, I know all about what you intend to say, and therefore need not be told; but see, it spits with rain, 'tis late, Graham's turned in, let's below; […]"
- 10 To dig, to spade. dialectal, intransitive
"We left the ground, of field of loam, by ſuppoſition under two ſorts of managements; the one part very rough, and the other made as fine as circumſtances would allow; the former ploughed the uſual depth, the other double ſpitted; [...]"
- 11 drive a skewer through wordnet
- 12 To utter (something) violently. ambitransitive
""Why, you little emasculated Don Juan— You—" he spat an unmentionable name— "d'you think I'd fight one of your tin-soldier farces with you? Clear out!""
- 13 rain gently wordnet
- 14 To make a spitting sound, like an angry cat. intransitive
- 15 To rap, to utter. slang, transitive
"A group of black guys were spitting rhymes in the corner, slapping hands and egging one another on."
- 16 (in the form spitting) To spit facts; to tell the truth. humorous, intransitive, slang
"He's spitting for sure."
Example
"In Singapore, it is a crime to spit on the ground."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "spit"?
Common synonyms include: spittle, andiron, assibilate, assibilation, auger, bah.
How do you use "spit" in a sentence?
In Singapore, it is a crime to spit on the ground.
How do you pronounce "spit"?
Pronounced /spɪt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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 meat is cooked; stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *speyd-, *spey- (“sharp; sharp stick”). The English word is cognate with Dutch spit, Low German Spitt (“pike, spear; spike; skewer; spit”), Danish spid, Swedish spett (“skewer; spit; type of crowbar”). The verb is derived from the noun, or from Middle English spiten (“to put on a spit; to impale”), from spit, spite: see above. The English verb is cognate with Middle Dutch speten, spitten (modern Dutch speten), Middle Low German speten (Low German spitten, modern German spießen (“to skewer, to spear”), spissen (now dialectal)) and Danish spidde.
Etymology 2
The verb is from Middle English spē̆ten, spete (“to spit (blood, phlegm, saliva, venom, etc.); of a fire: to emit sparks”), from Old English spǣtan (“to spit; to squirt”); or from Middle English spit, spitte, spitten (“to spit (blood, phlegm, saliva, venom, etc.); of a fire: to emit sparks”), from Old English spittan, spyttan (“to spit”), both from Proto-Germanic, from Proto-Indo-European *sp(y)ēw, *spyū, ultimately imitative; compare Middle English spitelen (“to spit out, expectorate”) and English spew. The English word is cognate with Danish spytte (“to spit”), North Frisian spütte, Norwegian spytte (“to spit”), Swedish spotta (“to spit”), Old Norse spýta (Faroese spýta (“to spit”), Icelandic spýta (“to spit”)). The noun is derived from the verb; compare Danish spyt (“spit”), Middle English spit, spytte (“saliva, spittle, sputum”), spet (“saliva, spittle”), spē̆tel (“saliva, spittle”), North Frisian spiit.
Etymology 3
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 (“to dig”), from Old English spittan (“to dig with a spade”), possibly from spitu (“rod on which meat is cooked; spit”); 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.