Word.ws English Dictionary

spit and polish

spit and polish noun: the application of (possibly rough and ready) cleaning techniques.

Noun

spit and polish (uncountable)

  1. (informal) The application of (possibly rough and ready) cleaning techniques.
    • They could use a bit of spit and polish around here. The place is filthy.

Questions about spit and polish

What does spit and polish mean?
Spit and polish means the application of (possibly rough and ready) cleaning techniques.
What part of speech is spit and polish?
Spit and polish is a noun.

Words near spit and polish in the dictionary

  1. spissitude
  2. spissitudes
  3. spit
  4. spit and baling wire
  5. spit and image
  6. spit and polish
  7. spit and vinegar
  8. spit bath
  9. spit baths
  10. spit blood
  11. spit box

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spit and polish (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “spit and polish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spit_and_polish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.