spit
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /spɪt/
rhymes: -ɪt
Forms: form: spits
Etymology: The noun is from Middle Dutch speet, spit, Middle Low German spêdt, spit (Low German spit); the word is cognate with Dutch spit, North Frisian spatt, spet, West Frisian spit.
The verb is from Middle English spitten (“to dig”), from Old English spittan (“to dig with a spade”), possibly from spitu (“rod on which meat is cooked; spit”); see further at etymology 1. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch spetten, spitten (modern Dutch spitten), Middle Low German speten, spitten (Low German spitten), North Frisian spat, West Frisian spitte.
Senses: examples: text: They [the potatoes] ſtood till October, when they were taken up, and a large pye made of them; which is laying them up in a heap, and covering them with ſtraw and a ſpit of earth.
ref: 1791 January 10, Samuel Dunn, Transactions of the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce; […], volume IX, London: Printed by T. Spilsbury and Son, […]; and sold by Messrs. [James] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 42:
text: The firſt plantation, containing four thouſand ſix hundred oaks, was formed on part of the ancient Home Park, ſurrounding this Caſtle: the ſoil was dug one full ſpit, and the turf inverted; [...]
ref: 1792 January 1, Lewis Majendie, Transactions of the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce; […], volume X, London: Printed by T. Spilsbury and Son, […]; and sold by Messrs. [James] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 4:
text: Soil of the usual depth may be trenched two spit (spadeful) deep; and if this is done every third year, it is evident that the surface which has produced three crops will rest for the next three years; thus giving a much better chance of constantly producing healthy and luxuriant crops, and with one half the manure that would otherwise be requisite.
ref: 1832, “Horticulture”, in David Brewster, editor, The Edinburgh Encyclopædia, [...] In Eighteen Volumes, 1st American edition, volume X, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Joseph and Edward Parker. […], →OCLC, page 545, column 1:
text: Proceed as for the single dig but start by removing two spits of topsoil to the far diagonal corner and also one spit of subsoil. Turn the exposed subsoil from hole two into hole one. Incorporate organic matter.
ref: [2006], NIIR Board of Consultants & Engineers, “Production and Management of Medicinal Plants on Farms”, in Cultivation and Processing of Selected Medicinal Plants, Delhi: Asia Pacific Business Press, →ISBN, page 82:
glosses: The depth to which the blade of a spade goes into the soil when it is used for digging; a layer of soil of the depth of a spade's blade.
examples: text: Dig your clay with a ſpade in ſpits of ordinary bricks; dig two, three, eight, ten or twenty loads of clay, more or leſs as you pleaſe; [...] then take theſe ſpits of clay, after they are tried in the ſun, ſurround your pile of wood with them, [...]
ref: 1795 March, Ezra L’Hommedieu, “Observations on Manures”, in Transactions of the Society, for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures, Instituted in the State of New-York, 2nd revised edition, volume I, Albany, N.Y.: Printed by Charles R. and George Webster, […], published 1801, →OCLC, part III (Transactions, &c.), page 235:
glosses: The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful.