Spiry Spir"y adjective [ From Spire a winding line.] Of a spiral form; wreathed; curled; serpentine.

Hid in the spiry volumes of the snake.

Dryden.

Spiry Spir"y adjective [ FR. Spire a steeple.] Of or pertaining to a spire; like a spire, tall, slender, and tapering; abounding in spires; as, spiry turrets. " Spiry towns." Thomson.

Spirĉa Spi·rĉ"a noun [ Latin , from Greek ........., from ......... a coil.] (Botany) A genus of shrubs or perennial herbs including the meadowsweet and the hardhack.

Spirĉic Spi·rĉ"ic adjective (Chemistry) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, the meadowsweet ( Spirĉa ); formerly, designating an acid which is now called salicylic acid .

Spiss Spiss adjective [ Latin spissus .] Thick; crowded; compact; dense. [ Obsolete]

This spiss and . . . copious, yet concise, treatise.

Brerewood.

Spissated Spis"sa·ted adjective Rendered dense or compact, as by evaporation; inspissated; thickened. [ R.]

The spissated juice of the poppy.

Bp. Warburton.

Spissitude Spis"si·tude noun [ Latin spissitudo .] The quality or state of being spissated; as, the spissitude of coagulated blood, or of any coagulum. Arbuthnot.

Spit Spit noun [ Middle English spite , Anglo-Saxon spitu ; akin to Dutch spit , German spiess , Old High German spiz , Danish spid . Swedish spett , and to German spitz pointed. √170.] 1. A long, slender, pointed rod, usually of iron, for holding meat while roasting.

2. A small point of land running into the sea, or a long, narrow shoal extending from the shore into the sea; as, a spit of sand. Cook.

3. The depth to which a spade goes in digging; a spade; a spadeful. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Spit Spit transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Spitted ; present participle & verbal noun Spitting .] [ From Spit , noun ; confer Speet .] 1. To thrust a spit through; to fix upon a spit; hence, to thrust through or impale; as, to spit a loin of veal. "Infants spitted upon pikes." Shak.

2. To spade; to dig. [ Prov. Eng.]

Spit Spit intransitive verb To attend to a spit; to use a spit. [ Obsolete]

She's spitting in the kitchen.

Old Play.

Spit Spit transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Spit ( Spat , archaic); present participle & verbal noun Spitting .] [ Anglo-Saxon spittan ; akin to German spützen , Danish spytte , Swedish spotta ,Icel. sp...ta , and probably English spew . The past tense spat is due to Anglo-Saxon sp...tte , from sp...tan to spit. Confer Spat , noun , Spew , Spawl , Spot , noun ] 1. To eject from the mouth; to throw out, as saliva or other matter, from the mouth. "Thus spit I out my venom." Chaucer.

2. To eject; to throw out; to belch.

» Spitted was sometimes used as the preterit and the past participle. "He . . . shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on." Luke xviii. 32.

Spit Spit noun The secretion formed by the glands of the mouth; spitle; saliva; sputum.

Spit Spit intransitive verb 1. To throw out saliva from the mouth.

2. To rain or snow slightly, or with sprinkles.

It had been spitting with rain.

Dickens.

To spit on or upon , to insult grossly; to treat with contempt. " Spitting upon all antiquity." South.

Spit ball Spit ball (Baseball) A pitched ball in throwing which the pitcher grips the ball between two, or three, fingers on one side (which is made slippery, as by saliva) and the thumb on the other side, and delivers it so that it slips off the fingers with the least possible friction. When pitched directly overhand a spit ball darts downward, when pitched with the arm extended sidewise it darts down and out. [ Cant] -- Spit baller .

Spit curl Spit" curl` A little lock of hair, plastered in a spiral form on the temple or forehead with spittle, or other adhesive substance. [ Colloq.]

Spit-venom Spit"-ven"om noun Poison spittle; poison ejected from the mouth. [ R.] Hooker.

Spital Spit"al noun [ Abbreviated from hospital .] [ Written also spittle .] A hospital. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Spitalhouse Spit"al·house` noun A hospital. [ Obsolete]

Spitball Spit"ball` noun Paper chewed, and rolled into a ball, to be thrown as a missile.

Spitbox Spit"box` noun A vessel to receive spittle.

Spitchcock Spitch"cock` transitive verb [ 1st spit + cock .] (Cookery) To split (as an eel) lengthwise, and broil it, or fry it in hot fat.

Spitchcock Spitch"cock` noun (Cookery) An eel split and broiled.

Spitchcocked Spitch"cocked` adjective (Cookery) Broiled or fried after being split lengthwise; -- said of eels.

Spite Spite noun [ Abbreviated from despite .] 1. Ill-will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; petty malice; grudge; rancor; despite. Pope.

This is the deadly spite that angers.

Shak.

2. Vexation; chargrin; mortification. [ R.] Shak.

In spite of , or Spite of , in opposition to all efforts of; in defiance or contempt of; notwithstanding. "Continuing, spite of pain, to use a knee after it had been slightly ibnjured." H. Spenser. "And saved me in spite of the world, the devil, and myself." South. " In spite of all applications, the patient grew worse every day." Arbuthnot. See Syn. under Notwithstanding . -- To owe one a spite , to entertain a mean hatred for him.

Syn. -- Pique, rancor; malevolence; grudge. -- Spite , Malice . Malice has more reference to the disposition, and spite to the manifestation of it in words and actions. It is, therefore, meaner than malice , thought not always more criminal. " Malice . . . is more frequently employed to express the dispositions of inferior minds to execute every purpose of mischief within the more limited circle of their abilities." Cogan. "Consider eke, that spite availeth naught." Wyatt. See Pique .

Spite Spite transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Spited ; present participle & verbal noun Spiting .] 1. To be angry at; to hate. [ Obsolete]

The Danes, then . . . pagans, spited places of religion.

Fuller.

2. To treat maliciously; to try to injure or thwart.

3. To fill with spite; to offend; to vex. [ R.]

Darius, spited at the Magi, endeavored to abolish not only their learning, but their language.

Sir. W. Temple.

Spiteful Spite"ful adjective Filled with, or showing, spite; having a desire to vex, annoy, or injure; malignant; malicious; as, a spiteful person or act. Shak. -- Spite"ful*ly , adverb Spite"ful*ness , noun

Spitfire Spit"fire` noun A violent, irascible, or passionate person. [ Colloq.] Grose.

Spitful Spit"ful noun ; plural Spitfuls A spadeful. [ Prov. Eng.]

Spitous Spit"ous adjective Having spite; spiteful. [ Obsolete]

Spitously Spit"ous·ly adverb Spitefully. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Spitscocked Spits"cocked` adjective Spitchcocked.

Spitted Spit"ted adjective [ From Spit .] 1. Put upon a spit; pierced as if by a spit.

2. Shot out long; -- said of antlers. Bacon.

Spitted Spit"ted past participle of Spit , intransitive verb , to eject, to spit. [ Obsolete]

Spitter Spit"ter noun [ See Spit to eject from the mouth.] One who ejects saliva from the mouth.

Spitter Spit"ter noun [ See Spit an iron prong.] 1. One who puts meat on a spit.

2. (Zoology) A young deer whose antlers begin to shoot or become sharp; a brocket, or pricket.

Spittle Spit"tle noun See Spital . [ Obsolete] B. Jonson.

Spittle Spit"tle transitive verb [ See Spit to spade.] To dig or stir with a small spade. [ Prov. Eng.]

Spittle Spit"tle noun A small sort of spade. [ Prov. Eng.]

Spittle Spit"tle noun [ From Spit to eject from the mouth: confer Spattle , and Anglo-Saxon spātl .] The thick, moist matter which is secreted by the salivary glands; saliva; spit.

Spittle insect . (Zoology) See Cuckoo spit (b) , under Cuckoo .

Spittly Spit"tly adjective Like spittle; slimy. [ Obsolete]

Spittoon Spit·toon" noun A spitbox; a cuspidor.

Spitz dog Spitz" dog" [ German spitz , spitzhund .] (Zoology) A breed of dogs having erect ears and long silky hair, usually white; -- called also Pomeranian dog , and louploup .

Spitzenburgh Spitz"en·burgh noun A kind of red and yellow apple, of medium size and spicy flavor. It originated at Newtown, on Long Island.

Splanchnapophysis Splanch`napoph"y·sis noun ; plural Splanchnapophyses . [ New Latin See Splanchnic , and Apophysis .] (Anat.) Any element of the skeleton in relation with the alimentary canal, as the jaws and hyoidean apparatus. -- Splanch`nap`o*phys"i*al adjective Mivart.

Splanchnic Splanch"nic adjective [ Greek ......... an entrail.] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the viscera; visceral.

Splanchno-skeleton Splanch`no-skel"e·ton noun [ Greek ............ an entrail + English skeleton .] (Anat.) That part of the skeleton connected with the sense organs and the viscera. Owen.

Splanchnography Splanch·nog"ra·phy noun [ Greek ............... an entrail + -graphy .] Splanchnology.

Splanchnology Splanch·nol"o·gy noun [ Greek ............ an entrail + -logy .] That part of anatomy which treats of the viscera; also, a treatise on the viscera.

Splanchnopleure Splanch"no·pleure noun [ Greek ............ an entrail + ............ side.] (Anat.) The inner, or visceral, one of the two lamellĉ into which the vertebrate blastoderm divides on either side of the notochord, and from which the walls of the enteric canal and the umbilical vesicle are developed. See Somatopleure .

-- Splanch`no*pleu"ric adjective

Splanchnotomy Splanch·not"o·my noun [ Greek ............... an entrail + ............ to cut.] The dissection, or anatomy, of the viscera.

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