Word.ws English Dictionary

up the spout

up the spout prepositional phrase: broken; not functional or workable; kaput.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (slang) Broken; not functional or workable; kaput.
    • I think the left speaker is up the spout.
    • That idea of yours for using the church hall seems to have gone up the spout.
  2. (slang) In the chamber, having an ammunition round in a weapon's chamber.
    • He went into the attack with his rifle cocked and with one up the spout.
  3. (slang) Pregnant.
    • Did you know that she's up the spout?
  4. (archaic, slang) At the pawnbroker's shop (in allusion to the spout up which the pawnbroker sent the ticketed articles).
    • to put/shove/pop something up the spout

up the spout meaning in Malayalam and Kannada

up the spout in Malayalam

broken, shattered, smashed
ഉപയോഗത്തിനു കൊള്ളാത്ത, പൊട്ടിയ, പൊട്ട, തകർന്ന, വിക്ഷിപ്ത, ഛിന്നഭിന്നമായ
pregnant, expectant, expecting a baby
ഗർഭിണിയായ, ഗർഭ, ഗർഭമുള്ള, ഗർഭി, ഗർഭിത, ഗർഭവതിയായ

up the spout in Kannada

ವ್ಯರ್ಥವಾದ, ನಾಶವಾದ, ಹಾಳಾದ, ಗರ್ಭಿಣಿಯಾದ

Questions about up the spout

What does up the spout mean?
Up the spout means broken; not functional or workable; kaput.
What is up the spout in Malayalam?
Up the spout in Malayalam is ഉപയോഗത്തിനു കൊള്ളാത്ത, പൊട്ടിയ, പൊട്ട. See Up the spout meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is up the spout?
Up the spout is a prepositional phrase.

Words near up the spout in the dictionary

  1. up the kyte
  2. up the Oxo Tower
  3. up the pole
  4. up the proverbial
  5. up the river
  6. up the spout
  7. up the stick
  8. up the stump
  9. up the wall
  10. up the walls
  11. up the wazoo

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: up the spout (page history and authors); up the spout (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); up the spout (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-up the spout.ogg.

Cite this entry: “up the spout.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/up_the_spout. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.