spits

Noun (1)

spit (plural spits)

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.1793, G. Hamilton, “[Appendix to the Tenth Volume of the Monthly Review Enlarged.] A Short Description of Carnicobar”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume X, London: Printed...

   Synonyms:

   broach

2. 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...1843, William W[illiams] Mather, “Marine Alluvial Detritus”, in Geology of New-York (Natural History of New York; part 4), part I (Comprising the Geology of the First Geological District), Albany...

Noun (2)

spit (countable and uncountable, plural spits)

1. (uncountable) Saliva, especially when expectorated.
   • There was spit all over the washbasin.

   Synonyms:

   expectoration, spittle

2. (countable) An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of rain or snow.
   • 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.2015, Col Buchanan, “Return of the King”, in The Black Dream, London: Tor Books, →ISBN
3. Likeness; used, usually in set phrases (see spitting image) of a person who exactly resembles someone else.
   • […] according to some of the elders of the village, young Philip was the “very spit” of his father, as they once remembered him […]1840, The Court Magazine & Monthly Critic and Lady's Magazine, page 405
4. (uncountable) Synonym of slam (“card game”).

   Synonyms:

   slam

See all 20 meanings of spit