Reef vs Spit - What's the difference?
reef | spit | Related terms |
Scabby; scurvy.
A chain or range of rocks, sand, or coral lying at or near the surface of the water.
(Australia, South Africa) A large vein of auriferous quartz; hence, any body of rock yielding valuable ore.
(nautical) A portion of a sail rolled and tied down to lessen the area exposed in a high wind.
A reef knot.
(nautical) To take in part of a sail in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.
* 1970' July–December, Margaret Quilty, ''Roller '''Reefing Made Easy'', '' ,
* 1995 , David Seidman, The Complete Sailor: Learning the Art of Sailing ,
* 2004 , Charlie Wing, How Boat Things Work ,
(Australian) To pull or yank strongly.
* 1986 , Jan Wositzky, Me and Phar Lap: The Remarkable Life of Tommy Woodcock , 2011,
* 1994 , Herb Wharton, Cattle Camp: Murrie Drovers and Their Stories , 2010,
* 2007 , Marion Houldsworth, Maybe It?ll Rain Tomorrow , 2012,
(nautical, of paddles) To move the floats of a paddle wheel toward its center so that they will not dip so deeply.
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.
English terms with multiple etymologies
Reef is a related term of spit.
As nouns the difference between reef and spit
is that reef is hoop (metal band on a barrel) while spit is a rod on which meat is grilled (uk english) or broiled (us english) or spit can be (uncountable) saliva]], especially when [[expectorate|expectorated.As a verb spit is
to impale on a spit or spit can be (transitive) to evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth.reef
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ref, hreof, from (etyl) . Compare (l), (l).Alternative forms
* (l), (l) (Scotland)Adjective
(en-adj)Etymology 2
From earlier riff, from (etyl) rif, from (etyl) . More at (l).Alternative forms
* (l) (obsolete)Noun
(wikipedia reef) (en noun)Derived terms
* coral reef * close reef * reef band * reef knot * reef line * reef points * reef rash * reef tackle * take a reef inVerb
page 63,
- Be sure the blocks are securely mounted—they carry a fairish load when the sail is reefed .
- If both reefing line and main halyard are led to the cockpit, even singlehanded reefing is a breeze.
page 104,
- Mains are made smaller by reefing . This can be done by rolling up the sail around the boom, or by the more traditional method of tying down a panel along the foot.
page 108,
- The reefing system for a mainsail must be designed to operate efficiently under adverse conditions and to provide proper sail shape when reefed .
page 49,
- And when the Cup came on he stirred them up ?round the barrier and he flew out of the barrier and he pulled and reefed' and pulled and ' reefed and Lewis didn?t let him settle down until about three furlongs from home and when he did settle the horse was all out of stride and he went back through the field a fair bit.
page 73,
- Alf told me that one young white stockman, eager to impress the girls, went outside and mounted his horse, then began showing off his prowess, racing past the pub, wheeling and reefing his horse up and down the street, yackeyeing and whooping, flogging his horse with a battered old hat and always turning towards the pub to see if the girls were watching these feats of horsemanship.
page 104,
- head stockman would say ‘Cut one out but take him at a walk.? And if you could get that beast out without reefing your horse around, the head stockman – he?d be a pretty cluey old coot - he?s watching that horse?s ears more than what you were doing.
- Reef the paddles.
Anagrams
* fere * freespit
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.
