expectorate

[ ik-spek-tuh-reyt ]

verb (used without object)

, ex·pec·to·rat·ed, ex·pec·to·rat·ing.

1. to eject or expel matter, as phlegm, from the throat or lungs by coughing or hawking and spitting; spit.

verb (used with object)

, ex·pec·to·rat·ed, ex·pec·to·rat·ing.

1. to eject or expel (matter) in this way.

expectorate

/ ɪkˈspɛktəˌreɪt /

verb

1. to cough up and spit out (sputum from the respiratory passages)

Derived Forms

• exˌpectoˈration, noun
• exˈpectoˌrator, noun

Other Words From

• ex·pecto·rator noun
• unex·pecto·rated adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of expectorate¹

1595–1605; < Latin expectorātus (past participle of expectorāre to expel from the breast), equivalent to ex- ex- ¹ + pector- (stem of pectus ) breast + -ātus -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of expectorate¹

C17: from Latin expectorāre, literally: to drive from the breast, expel, from pectus breast

Example Sentences

“Talking, coughing, putting out expectorate of any kind — if anyone passes through an area an infected person has been and those molecules with the virus are still hanging in the air, someone can still become infected.”

From Washington Post

“I can’t sit there and swallow it. Swish and expectorate!”

From New York Times

Participants expectorate about a thimble-full of saliva into a sterile tube, put it in a plastic bat that can be sealed, and drop it into a cooler for transport to the testing facilities in the campus’s shiny, state-of-the-art Frank M. and Dorothea Henry Science Center.

From Washington Times

I saw a guy do that the other day as he waited to cross 14th Street NW: just casually expectorate a globule into the gutter.

From Washington Post

Critics have to say something, of course — and there is apparently plenty enough to say about “American Dirt” without requiring the author to expectorate into a test tube.

From Washington Post