cuspidor

American  

[kuhs-pi-dawr] / ˈkʌs pɪˌdɔr /

noun

1. a large bowl, often of metal, serving as a receptacle for spit, especially from chewing tobacco: in wide use during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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cuspidor British  

/ ˈkʌspɪˌdɔː /

noun

1. another word (esp US) for spittoon

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Etymology

Origin of cuspidor

1770–80; < Portuguese: literally, spitter, equivalent to cusp ( ir ) to spit (≪ Latin conspuere to cover with spit; con- con- + spuere to spit ¹ ) + -idor < Latin -i-tōrium; see -i-, -tory ²

Example Sentences

Alney Chaffee made a lunge for it but it escaped him, with a resounding clank fell into a large brass cuspidor.

From Time Magazine Archive

But when he wandered over again and bought their printshop, lock, stock and cuspidor, with its two weekly papers, their reaction was not so simple.

From Time Magazine Archive

He keeps a brass cuspidor within reachable trajectory of his desk, shows visitors the bullet hole that some disgruntled subscriber drilled through his office window, and lets his staffers strut their stuff.

From Time Magazine Archive

Army was going to ask for bids on 1,000 rubber cuspidor mats�which would use up a ton and a half of badly needed rubber?

From Time Magazine Archive

If I've told my chief officer once I've told him fifty times, I will not have a cuspidor on the bridge for the man at the wheel.

From Command by McFee, William