Crossword clues for expectorate
expectorate
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Expectorate \Ex*pec"to*rate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Expectorated; p. pr. & vb. n. Expectorating.] [L. expecrorare to drive from the breast; ex out + pectus, pectiris, breast. See Pectoral.] To eject from the trachea or lungs; to discharge, as phlegm or other matter, by coughing, hawking, and spitting; to spit forth.
Expectorate \Ex*pec"to*rate\, v. i. To discharge matter from the lungs or throat by hawking and spitting; to spit.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1600, "to clear out the chest or lungs," a literal use of Latin expectoratus, past participle of expectorare, which in classical use was figurative, "scorn, expel from the mind," literally "drive from the breast, make a clean breast," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + pectus (genitive pectoris) "breast" (see pectoral (adj.)). Its use as a euphemism for "spit" is recorded by 1827. The classical Latin figurative sense appears in English 17c. but is now obsolete. Related: Expectorated; expectorating.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 to cough up fluid from the lungs 2 to spit
WordNet
Usage examples of "expectorate".
The expectorated matter is at first whitish, opaque, and tenacious, mixed sometimes with a frothy mucus, requiring considerable coughing to loosen it and throw it off.
The offensive matter expectorated grew less every day and when I had taken the whole of one bottle I could sleep all night without coughing, and have been well ever since and weigh 178 pounds.
The pain was augmented during deglutition, and almost immediately afterward he commenced to expectorate great quantities of blood.
She was unfamiliar with the red spittle from the betel chewing that was expectorated everywhere around them, and not even the Hindi film songs and the Qawwali on the jukebox in the Olympia had prepared her for the assault of noise along Falkland Road.
I was smoking with pleasure, but, at the same time, was expectorating.
Formlessly, before I began to shape them, the fragrances poured into me: the mournful decaying fumes of animal faeces in the gardens of the Frere Road museum, the pustular body odours of young men in loose pajamas holding hands in Sadar evenings, the knife‑sharpness of expectorated betel‑nut and the bitter‑sweet commingling of betel and opium: 'rocket paans' were sniffed out in the hawker‑crowded alleys between Elphin‑stone Street and Victoria Road.
Observant Mr MacGinnis perceived my hesitation and expectorated triumphantly.
A red stream of expectorated paan‑fluid leaves his lips, to hit, with commendable accuracy, a beautifully‑wrought silver spittoon, which sits before him on the ground.
Tige expectorated, and did it so that there was only the noise of the liquid hitting the deck.
Pleated wings beating too fast to see, she positioned herself to deal with the ponderous, slow-moving threat, preparing to direct her expectorated poison at the exquisitely camouflaged predator's eyes.
He waited for Nyquist's next remark, hoping it would include something humorous, an epic quip or two that would make Nyquist himself flash his fizzing teeth and gums in the sort of uncontrollable expectorating glee that Billy associated with the handicapped.
The dark giant acquired a habit of scowling blackly at Renny, and expectorating in a most annoying fashion when Renny, playing the part of Champ Dugan to its utmost, began bragging about what a great fighter he was in the air and on the ground.
Chouma,' he said in a guttural voice as if he were expectorating rather than speaking.
The water in the slop basin was pinkish with expectorated blood, and broken ampoules and swollen tufts of cotton wool floated on its surface.