What is the difference between dig and spit?
dig | spit |
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful moment for me. ¶ “You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke,” I said.}}
(label) To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up .
(label) To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
(label) To investigate, to research, often followed by out'' or ''up .
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= To thrust; to poke.
* Robynson (More's Utopia)
An archeological investigation.
(US, colloquial, dated) A plodding and laborious student.
A thrust; a poke.
(slang) To understand or show interest in.
(slang) To appreciate, or like.
A rod on which meat is grilled (UK English) or broiled (US English).
A narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula.
* 1881 , :
The depth to which a spade goes in digging; a spade; a spadeful.
To impale on a spit.
* Shakespeare
To attend to a spit; to use a spit.
To spade; to dig.
(transitive) To evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth.
* 1994 , (Stephen Fry), (The Hippopotamus) Chapter 2
To rain or snow slightly, or with sprinkles.
* Charles Dickens
To utter violently.
* 1915 , , Shadows of Flames , page 240 [http://books.google.com/books?id=-9AcAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=spat]:
* 2004 , edition, ISBN 0743483790, chapter 3, page 23 [http://books.google.com/books?id=d9F9MUiOQD4C&pg=PA23&dq=spat]:
(transitive, slang, hip-hop) To utter.
* 2005 , Giselle Zado Wasfie, So Fly
(uncountable) Saliva]], especially when [[expectorate, expectorated.
(countable) An instance of spitting.
In transitive terms the difference between dig and spit
is that dig is to get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up while spit is to utter violently.As verbs the difference between dig and spit
is that dig is to move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More generally, to make any similar hole by moving material out of the way while spit is to impale on a spit.As nouns the difference between dig and spit
is that dig is an archeological investigation while spit is a rod on which meat is grilled (UK English) or broiled (US English).dig
English
(wikipedia dig)Etymology 1
From (etyl) , from (etyl) (m), itself a borrowing of the same Germanic root (from (etyl) (m)). More at ditch, dike.Verb
The Evolution of Eyeglasses, passage=Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}
- You should have seen children dig and push their mothers under the sides, saying thus to them: Look, mother, how great a lubber doth yet wear pearls.
Derived terms
* dig in * dig into * dig over * dig out * dig upNoun
(en noun)- He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.
Synonyms
* (archaeological investigation) excavationEtymology 2
From (African American Vernacular English); due to lack of writing of slave speech, etymology is .Random House Unabridged, 2001 Others do not propose a distinct etymology, instead considering this a semantic shift of the existing English term (compare dig in/dig into'').eg: OED, "dig", from ME vt ''diggenVerb
- You dig ?
- Baby, I dig you.
References
spit
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) spitu , from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- Or perhaps he may see a group of washerwomen relieved, on a spit of shingle, against the blue sea [..]
- (Halliwell)
Verb
(spitt)- to spit a loin of veal
- infants spitted upon pikes
- She's spitting in the kitchen.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) spittan, from (etyl) (compare Danish spytte, Swedish spotta), from (etyl) Ayto, John, Dictionary of Word Origins , Arcade Publishing, New York, 1990, of imitiative origin (see spew)spew], [[w:Online Etymology Dictionary, Online Etymology Dictionary], Douglas Harper
Verb
- Don't spit on the street.
- The teacher told her to spit out her bubble gum.
- At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.
- It had been spitting with rain.
- "Why, you little emasculated Don Juan— You—" he spat an unmentionable name— "d'you think I'd fight one of your tin-soldier farces with you? Clear out!"
- "Gentleman? You?" he spat .
- A group of black guys were spitting rhymes in the corner, slapping hands and egging one another on.
Usage notes
* Spit'' as the past form is common only in the US, while ''spat is common everywhere.Synonyms
* expectorateDerived terms
* spit it out * spit nails * spitting chips * spitting distanceNoun
- There was spit all over the washbasin.