Synonyms:
spit, spitting, expectoration
Meaning: the act of spitting (forcefully expelling saliva)
Usage examples
There are still "spitting stones" in the north of Scotland.
Something caught in his throat and he coughed to clear it, spitting out blood.
Spitting ceremonies are referred to in the religious literature of Ancient Egypt.
When the Newcastle colliers held their earliest strikes they made compacts by spitting on a stone.
Theocritus, Sophocles, and Plutarch testify to the ancient Grecian customs of spitting to cure and to curse, and also to bless when children were named.
Pliny has expressed belief in the efficacy of the fasting spittle for curing disease, and referred to the custom of spitting to avert witchcraft. In England, Scotland, and Ireland spitting customs are not yet obsolete.
There she was, the big, fierce cat, crouched in a corner, with fiery eyes, growling and spitting at sight of an enemy, but too badly wounded to fight, as the blood that dripped from her neck, and the tremble of her limbs plainly showed.
With my knife I cut off a small portion of the leather trunk, and endeavoured to eat it, but found it utterly impossible to swallow a single morsel, although I fancied that some little alleviation of my suffering was obtained by chewing small pieces of it and spitting them out.