Adjacent Words

Expectorate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EXPEC'TORATE, v.t. [L. expectoro; ex and pectus, the breast.]
To eject from the trachea or lungs; to discharge phlegm or other matter, by coughing, hawking and spitting.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: clear out the chest and lungs; "This drug expectorates quickly" [syn: expectorate, clear out, drive out]
2: discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth [syn: expectorate, cough up, cough out, spit up, spit out]

Merriam Webster's

verb (-rated; -rating) Etymology: Latin expectoratus, past participle of expectorare to banish from the mind (taken to mean literally “to expel from the chest”), from ex- + pector-, pectus breast, soul — more at pectoral Date: 1601 transitive verb 1. to eject from the throat or lungs by coughing or hawking and spitting 2. spit intransitive verb 1. to discharge matter from the throat or lungs by coughing or hawking and spitting 2. spit • expectoration noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (also absol.) cough or spit out (phlegm etc.) from the chest or lungs. Derivatives: expectoration n. expectorator n. Etymology: L expectorare expectorat- (as EX-(1), pectus -oris breast)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Expectorate Ex*pec"to*rate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Expectorated; p. pr. & vb. n. Expectorating.] [L. expecrorare to drive from the breast; ex out + pectus, pectiris, breast. See Pectoral.] To eject from the trachea or lungs; to discharge, as phlegm or other matter, by coughing, hawking, and spitting; to spit forth.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Expectorate Ex*pec"to*rate, v. i. To discharge matter from the lungs or throat by hawking and spitting; to spit.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Hawk up, cough up, eject from the trachea, spit out or up.