spout

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English spouten, from Middle Dutch spoiten, spouten (> Dutch spuiten (to spout)), from Old Dutch *spūten, *spīuten, *spīwetten, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwatjaną. Compare Swedish spruta (squirt, syringe). See also spit, spew.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /spaʊt/
  • (Canada) IPA(key): /spʌʊt/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊt

Noun[edit]

spout (plural spouts)

  1. A tube or lip through which liquid or steam is poured or discharged.
    I dropped my china teapot, and its spout broke.
  2. A stream of liquid.
    • 2010, James Fleming, Cold Blood, page 160:
      A spout of blood flew from his mouth, spattering Smichov's linen trousers.
  3. The mixture of air and water thrown up from the blowhole of a whale.
  4. (Australia) A hollow stump formed when a tree branch breaks off.

Coordinate terms[edit]

  • (tube through which liquid is discharged): nozzle

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

spout (third-person singular simple present spouts, present participle spouting, simple past and past participle spouted)

  1. (intransitive) To gush forth in a jet or stream
    Water spouts from a hole.
  2. (transitive, intransitive) To eject water or liquid in a jet.
    The whale spouted.
    • 1697, Thomas Creech, The Whale:
      The mighty whale [] spouts the tide.
  3. (intransitive) To speak tediously or pompously.
  4. (transitive) To utter magniloquently; to recite in an oratorical or pompous manner.
  5. (transitive, slang, dated) To pawn; to pledge.
    to spout a watch

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]