Turnspit
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person employed in turning a spit for the purpose of roasting meat.
- 2 a roasting spit that can be turned wordnet
- 3 Synonym of roasting jack.
- 4 A person engaged in some menial occupation. archaic, broadly, derogatory
- 5 Ellipsis of turnspit dog. abbreviation, alt-of, archaic, ellipsis
"c. 1723, William Meston, The Knight Sometimes, like turnspit cur, he reels, Sweating in his mysterious wheels; And by his motion, tho' he fancies That higher up he still advances, Yet, press'd down with his nat'ral weight, After much toiling, still the Knight Is found to be in the same place Where first he did begin his race; And has done less, for all his boasting, Than turnspit dog the goose when roasting."
Example
More examples"c. 1723, William Meston, The Knight Sometimes, like turnspit cur, he reels, Sweating in his mysterious wheels; And by his motion, tho' he fancies That higher up he still advances, Yet, press'd down with his nat'ral weight, After much toiling, still the Knight Is found to be in the same place Where first he did begin his race; And has done less, for all his boasting, Than turnspit dog the goose when roasting."
Etymology
From turn + spit.
More for "turnspit"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.