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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cuspidor

Cuspidor \Cus"pi*dor\ (-d?r), n. [Pg. cuspideria, fr. cuspir to spit.] Any ornamental vessel used as a spittoon; hence, to avoid the common term, a spittoon of any sort. [1913 Webster] ||

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
cuspidor

1779, a colonial word, from Portuguese cuspidor "spittoon," from cuspir "to spit," from Latin conspuere "spit on," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + spuere "to spit" (see spew (v.)).

Wiktionary
cuspidor

n. (context US English) spittoon

WordNet
cuspidor

n. a receptacle for spit (usually in a public place) [syn: spittoon]

Usage examples of "cuspidor".

The mahogany bar with its brass footrail and cuspidors went nearly the length of the room.

To the perimeter of the lobby is bolted a heavy brass footrail with ornate cuspidors in the corners.

Because just about every last man, without breaking stride, aimed a shot of thick brown tobacco juice at one of the several dozen cuspidors scattered around the big floor.

Even as I stood in the entrance looking around, four or five seconds at most, a dozen men must have turned, each with a swollen cheek, to spit more or less expertly and more or less carefully at porcelain cuspidors scattered all over the big lobby floor.

The place was getting busy, the ping of spit in cuspidors a kind of background music.

The hospital car was a sleeping car requisitioned from the New York Central and still possessed its peacetime cuspidors, fringed curtains, and engraved lamp shades, though now the luxurious bunks were attended by four nurses and two army doctors, who were protected by a pair of faded red flags that hung at either end of the car's roof to proclaim that the vehicle was a hospital.

The rhythm of the steam engine quickened as the car rattled faster and faster over the jointed rails to shake the brass cuspidors and vibrate the gas-jet flames behind their misted lamp globes.

Heavy brass ashtrays and cuspidors left over from the Teddy Roosevelt era.

He pulled a long fireplace match out of a metal cuspidor by the hearth and put it in his lap.