spigot

[ spig-uht ]

noun

1. a small peg or plug for stopping the vent of a cask.
2. a peg or plug for stopping the passage of liquid in a faucet or cock.
3. a faucet or cock for controlling the flow of liquid from a pipe or the like.
4. the end of a pipe that enters the enlarged end of another pipe to form a joint.

spigot

/ ˈspɪɡət /

noun

1. a stopper for the vent hole of a cask
2. a tap, usually of wood, fitted to a cask
3. a US name for tap 2
4. a short cylindrical projection on one component designed to fit into a hole on another, esp the male part of a joint ( spigot and socket joint ) between two pipes

Word History and Origins

Origin of spigot¹

1350–1400; Middle English spigot, perhaps < Old French *espigot < Old Provençal espig ( a ) (< Latin spīca ear of grain; spica ) + Old French -ot diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of spigot¹

C14: probably from Old Provençal espiga a head of grain, from Latin spīca a point

Example Sentences

During a recent campaign stop in Coachella, Trump threatened to turn the spigot off on firefighting money if Newsom didn’t make more water available to farmers.

From Los Angeles Times

As Axios noted, “If Trump wants to shut off the IRA spigot, he’ll likely find ways to do it.”

From Salon

Disney and DirecTV still generate billions of dollars in revenue from traditional pay-TV packages and they want to keep the spigot running.

From Los Angeles Times

He found some containers, filled them with water from a spigot outside and vowed to never again deliver dogs to California.

From Los Angeles Times

Even in deep-blue states, a bipartisan coalition keeps the highway funding spigot open, said Amy Lee, a postdoc at the University of California, Los Angeles who wrote her dissertation about California’s failure to constrain highway growth.

From Slate

Related Words

• nozzle
• valve