a large bowl, often of metal, serving as a receptacle for spit, esp. from chewing tobacco: in wide use during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Origin: 1770–80; < Pg: lit., spitter, equiv. to cusp(ir) to spit (≪ L conspuere to cover with spit; con-con-+ spuere to spit) + -idor < L -i-tōrium;see -i-, -tory2