The Collaborative International Dictionary
Spot \Spot\ (sp[o^]t), n. [Cf. Scot. & D. spat, Dan. spette, Sw. spott spittle, slaver; from the root of E. spit. See Spit to eject from the mouth, and cf. Spatter.]
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A mark on a substance or body made by foreign matter; a blot; a place discolored.
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
--Shak. -
A stain on character or reputation; something that soils purity; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish.
Yet Chloe, sure, was formed without a spot.
--Pope. A small part of a different color from the main part, or from the ground upon which it is; as, the spots of a leopard; the spots on a playing card.
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A small extent of space; a place; any particular place. ``Fixed to one spot.''
--Otway.That spot to which I point is Paradise.
--Milton.``A jolly place,'' said he, ``in times of old! But something ails it now: the spot is cursed.''
--Wordsworth. (Zo["o]l.) A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above its beak.
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(Zo["o]l.)
A sci[ae]noid food fish ( Liostomus xanthurus) of the Atlantic coast of the United States. It has a black spot behind the shoulders and fifteen oblique dark bars on the sides. Called also goody, Lafayette, masooka, and old wife.
The southern redfish, or red horse, which has a spot on each side at the base of the tail. See Redfish.
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pl. Commodities, as merchandise and cotton, sold for immediate delivery. [Broker's Cant]
Crescent spot (Zo["o]l.), any butterfly of the family Melit[ae]id[ae] having crescent-shaped white spots along the margins of the red or brown wings.
Spot lens (Microscopy), a condensing lens in which the light is confined to an annular pencil by means of a small, round diaphragm (the spot), and used in dark-field illumination; -- called also spotted lens.
Spot rump (Zo["o]l.), the Hudsonian godwit ( Limosa h[ae]mastica).
Spots on the sun. (Astron.) See Sun spot, ander Sun.
On the spot, or Upon the spot, immediately; before moving; without changing place; as, he made his decision on the spot.
It was determined upon the spot.
--Swift.Syn: Stain; flaw; speck; blot; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish; place; site; locality.
Usage examples of "upon the spot".
The wretch who flung the stone was seized with madness, and dropped down dead upon the spot.
An instant later the tall, wooden statue of Anubis, the jackal-headed god that had been standing by the window, crashed forward almost upon the spot where the professor had been standing.
Whether he reached the inner cave, they could not tell, for as the gloom swallowed Kirby's burly form, white shapes seemed to flit from the side walls and converge upon the spot where they had last seen Kirby.
A public monument was erected upon the spot where the slain were gathered together.
She had already decided upon the spot where she would stow her fetish.
And may my first ancestor strike me dead upon the spot if I speak other than a true word!
He guessed what was coming and even as the great cat sprang he turned and dove headforemost down the hole of the ratel and behind him rattled the loose earth pushed into the burrow's mouth by Numa as he alighted upon the spot where Tarzan had stood.