spout

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spout

(spout)

v. spout·ed, spout·ing, spouts

v.intr.

1. To gush forth in a rapid stream or in spurts: Water spouted from the faucet.

2. To discharge a liquid or other substance continuously or in spurts: whales spouting offshore.

3. To speak in a wordy, dull, or pompous manner: spouted on about how well-made the building was.

v.tr.

1. To discharge (a flowing or spurting liquid); release: The statue's mouth spouted water.

2. To utter in a wordy, dull, or pompous manner: spouted statistics to prove his point.

3. Chiefly British To pawn.

1. A tube, lip, or hole through which liquid is released or discharged: the spout of a teapot.

2. A continuous stream of liquid.

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

4. Chiefly British A pawnshop.

Idiom:

up the spout Chiefly British Slang

1. Pawned.

2. In difficulty.

3. Pregnant.

[Middle English spouten, ultimately of imitative origin.]

spout′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spout

(spaʊt)

1. to discharge (a liquid) in a continuous jet or in spurts, esp through a narrow gap or under pressure, or (of a liquid) to gush thus

2. (Zoology) (of a whale, etc) to discharge air through the blowhole, so that it forms a spray at the surface of the water

3. informal to utter (a stream of words) on a subject, often at length

4. a tube, pipe, chute, etc, allowing the passage or pouring of liquids, grain, etc

5. a continuous stream or jet of liquid

6. (Physical Geography) short for waterspout

7. up the spout slang

a. ruined or lost: any hope of rescue is right up the spout.

b. pregnant

[C14: perhaps from Middle Dutch spouten, from Old Norse spyta to spit]

ˈspouter n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

spout

(spaʊt)

v.t.

1. to discharge in a stream or jet: volcanoes spouting ash and lava.

2. to state or declaim volubly or in a pompous manner: spouting theories on foreign policy.

v.i.

3. to issue in a jet or continuous stream.

4. to issue forth with force, as liquid through a narrow orifice.

5. to speak volubly or pompously.

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. waterspout.

9. a continuous stream of material discharged from or as if from a pipe.

10. a spring of water.

11. Archaic. pawnshop.

[1300–50; (v.) Middle English, akin to Dutch spuiten, Old Norse spȳta to spit¹; (n.) Middle English spowt(e) pipe, akin to the n.]

spout′er, n.

spout

Past participle: spouted
Gerund: spouting

Imperative
spout
spout

Present
I spout
you spout
he/she/it spouts
we spout
you spout
they spout

Preterite
I spouted
you spouted
he/she/it spouted
we spouted
you spouted
they spouted

Present Continuous
I am spouting
you are spouting
he/she/it is spouting
we are spouting
you are spouting
they are spouting

Present Perfect
I have spouted
you have spouted
he/she/it has spouted
we have spouted
you have spouted
they have spouted

Past Continuous
I was spouting
you were spouting
he/she/it was spouting
we were spouting
you were spouting
they were spouting

Past Perfect
I had spouted
you had spouted
he/she/it had spouted
we had spouted
you had spouted
they had spouted

Future
I will spout
you will spout
he/she/it will spout
we will spout
you will spout
they will spout

Future Perfect
I will have spouted
you will have spouted
he/she/it will have spouted
we will have spouted
you will have spouted
they will have spouted

Future Continuous
I will be spouting
you will be spouting
he/she/it will be spouting
we will be spouting
you will be spouting
they will be spouting

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been spouting
you have been spouting
he/she/it has been spouting
we have been spouting
you have been spouting
they have been spouting

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been spouting
you will have been spouting
he/she/it will have been spouting
we will have been spouting
you will have been spouting
they will have been spouting

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been spouting
you had been spouting
he/she/it had been spouting
we had been spouting
you had been spouting
they had been spouting

Conditional
I would spout
you would spout
he/she/it would spout
we would spout
you would spout
they would spout

Past Conditional
I would have spouted
you would have spouted
he/she/it would have spouted
we would have spouted
you would have spouted
they would have spouted

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	spout - an opening that allows the passage of liquids or grain gargoyle - a spout that terminates in a grotesquely carved figure of a person or animal nozzle, nose - a projecting spout from which a fluid is discharged opening - a vacant or unobstructed space that is man-made; "they left a small opening for the cat at the bottom of the door" pipage, pipe, piping - a long tube made of metal or plastic that is used to carry water or oil or gas etc. watering can, watering pot - a container with a handle and a spout with a perforated nozzle; used to sprinkle water over plants
Verb	1.	spout - gush forth in a sudden stream or jet; "water gushed forth" gush, spirt, spurt pump - flow intermittently blow - spout moist air from the blowhole; "The whales blew" whoosh - gush or squirt out; "Oil whooshed up when the drill hit the well" pour - flow in a spurt; "Water poured all over the floor"
	2.	spout - talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner jabber, mouth off, rabbit on, rant, rave mouth, speak, talk, verbalise, verbalize, utter - express in speech; "She talks a lot of nonsense"; "This depressed patient does not verbalize"

spout

verb

1. stream, shoot, gush, spurt, jet, spray, surge, discharge, erupt, emit, squirt In a storm, water spouts out of the blowhole just like a whale.

2. (Informal) hold forth, talk, rant, go on (informal), rabbit (on) (Brit. informal), ramble (on), pontificate, declaim, spiel (informal), expatiate, orate, speechify She would go red in the face and start to spout.

noun

1. jet, fountain, gush, outpouring, geyser Experts later blew it up - sending a spout of water soaring 30ft into the sky.

2. nozzle, lip, rose a pot with a broken spout

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

spout

verb

To eject or be ejected in a sudden thin, swift stream:

jet, spray, spurt, squirt.

noun

A sudden swift stream of ejected liquid:

jet, spray, spurt, squirt.

Translations

Spanish / Español

Select a language:

spout

[spaʊt]

A. N [of jar] → pico m; [of teapot etc] → pitón m, pitorro m; [of guttering] → canalón m; (= jet of water) → surtidor m, chorro m
to be up the spout (Brit) [person] (= in a jam) → estar en un apuro; (= pregnant) → estar en estado
my holiday's up the spout → mis vacaciones se han ido al garete

B. VT

1. [+ water] → arrojar en chorro

2. [+ poetry etc] → declamar

C. VI

1. [water] → brotar, salir en chorros

2. (= declaim) → hablar incansablemente

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

spout

(spaut) verb

1. to throw out or be thrown out in a jet. Water spouted from the hole in the tank.

2. to talk or say (something) loudly and dramatically. He started to spout poetry, of all things!

noun

1. the part of a kettle, teapot, jug, water-pipe etc through which the liquid it contains is poured out.

2. a jet or strong flow (of water etc).

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

A walrus spouts much like a whale, but the walrus is not a fish, because he is amphibious.

It may never have occurred to you that a porpoise spouts. Indeed, his spout is so small that it is not very readily discernible.

But as these pig-fish are a nosy, contemptible set, mostly lurking in the mouths of rivers, and feeding on wet hay, and especially as they do not spout, I deny their credentials as whales; and have presented them with their passports to quit the kingdom of Cetology.

View in context

And when he looked across at the wall where the mortar had fallen out, he could sit and find out there the strangest figures imaginable; exactly as the street had appeared before, with steps, projecting windows, and pointed gables; he could see soldiers with halberds, and spouts where the water ran, like dragons and serpents.

The one story stood forward a great way over the other; and directly under the eaves was a leaden spout with a dragon's head; the rain-water should have run out of the mouth, but it ran out of the belly, for there was a hole in the spout.

View in context

Tall spouts were seen to leeward; and two boats, Stubb's and Flask's, were detached in pursuit.

View in context

The spout, above which he had stood, arrested him in his fall.

He merely writhed upon the spout, with incredible efforts to climb up again; but his hands had no hold on the granite, his feet slid along the blackened wall without catching fast.

He heard his cassock, which was caught on the spout, crack and rip at every jerk that he gave it.

He lost ground little by little, nevertheless, his fingers slipped along the spout; he became more and more conscious of the feebleness of his arms and the weight of his body.

View in context

Among the fallen rocks the breakers spouted and bellowed; loud reverberations, heavy sprays flying and falling, succeeded one another from second to second; and I saw myself, if I ventured nearer, dashed to death upon the rough shore or spending my strength in vain to scale the beetling crags.

And I had hardly moved before the boat, giving up at once her gentle dancing movement, ran straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy, and struck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side of the next wave.