spout

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spout / spout/ • n. 1. a tube or lip projecting from a container, through which liquid can be poured: a teapot with a chipped spout. ∎  a pipe or trough through which water may be carried away or from which it can flow out. ∎  a sloping trough for conveying something to a lower level; a chute. ∎ hist. a lift in a pawnshop used to convey pawned items up for storage.2. a stream of liquid issuing from somewhere with great force: the tall spouts of geysers. ∎  the plume of water vapor ejected from the blowhole of a whale: the spout of an occasional whale.• v. [tr.] 1. send out (liquid) forcibly in a stream: volcanoes spouted ash and lava. ∎  [intr.] (of a liquid) flow out of somewhere in such a way: blood was spouting from the cuts on my hand. ∎  (of a whale or dolphin) eject (water vapor and air) through its blowhole.2. express (one's views or ideas) in a lengthy, declamatory, and unreflecting way: he was spouting platitudes about animal rights | [intr.] they like to spout off at each other. DERIVATIVES: spout·ed adj.spout·er n.spout·less adj.ORIGIN: Middle English (as a verb): from Middle Dutch spouten, from an imitative base shared by Old Norse spýta ‘to spit.’

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