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spouter

 - 3 dictionary results

spout

  [spout]
Use spouter in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to emit or discharge forcibly (a liquid, granulated substance, etc.) in a stream or jet.
2. Informal. to state or declaim volubly or in an oratorical manner: He spouted his theories on foreign policy for the better part of the night.
–verb (used without object)
3. to discharge, as a liquid, in a jet or continuous stream.
4. to issue forth with force, as liquid or other material through a narrow orifice.
5. Informal. to talk or speak at some length or in an oratorical manner.
–noun
6. a pipe, tube, or liplike projection through or by which a liquid is discharged, poured, or conveyed.
7. a trough or shoot for discharging or conveying grain, flour, etc.
8. a waterspout.
9. a continuous stream of liquid, granulated substance, etc., discharged from or as if from a pipe, tube, shoot, etc.
10. a spring of water.
11. a downpour or fall, esp. of water, from a high place; waterfall.
12. a dumbwaiter or chute, formerly common in pawnbrokers' shops, by which articles pawned were sent to another floor for storage.
13. British Slang. pawnshop.
—Idiom
14. up the spout, British Slang.
a. pawned.
b. in a desperate situation; beyond help: His financial affairs are up the spout.
Origin:
1300–50; (v.) ME spouten; c. D spuiten; akin to ON spȳta to spit 1 ; (n.) ME spowt(e) pipe, akin to the n.

Related forms:
spouter, noun
spoutless, adjective
spoutlike, adjective

Synonyms:
3, 4. squirt, stream, pour. See flow. 5. declaim, rant, harangue, speechify. 6. nozzle, nose.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To spouter
spout   (spout)   
v.   spout·ed, spout·ing, spouts

v.   intr.

  1. To gush forth in a rapid stream or in spurts.

  2. To discharge a liquid or other substance continuously or in spurts.

  3. Informal To speak volubly and tediously.

v.   tr.

  1. To cause to flow or spurt out.

  2. To utter volubly and tediously.

  3. Chiefly British To pawn.

n.  

  1. A tube, mouth, or pipe through which liquid is released or discharged.

  2. A continuous stream of liquid.

  3. The burst of spray from the blowhole of a whale.

  4. Chiefly British A pawnshop.


[Middle English spouten, ultimately of imitative origin.]
spout'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

spout  (v.)
c.1330, related to M.Du. spoiten "to spout," N.Fris. spütji "spout, squirt," Swed. sputa "to spout," and probably M.Du. spuwen "to spit" (see spew). Meaning "to talk, declaim" is recorded from 1612. The noun is first recorded 1392. It was the slang term for the lift in a pawnbroker's shop, up which articles were taken for storage, hence fig. phrase up the spout "lost, hopeless, gone beyond recall" (1812).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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