expectorate
verb/ɪkˈspɛktəɹeɪt/
Etymology From Latin expectorātus, past participle of expectorō (“(only figurative) banish from the mind; (post-classical) expel from the breast)”), from ex (“out of”) + pectus (“the breast”).
1
Ambitransitive To cough up fluid from the lungs.
- These rules are equally applicable to pneumonia and perhaps also to bronchitis. It will, therefore, be best to call them, not rules for consumptives, but for all persons who cough and expectorate .1893, Popular Science Monthly (ed.), Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 42 (Jan 1893) — Notes:
- …the gap in his upper row of teeth enabled him to expectorate in a new and admirable way.1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Chapter VI):
2
Ambitransitive To spit.
- Derived terms
- expectorative, expectorator, unexpectorated
- Related terms
- expectorant, expectoration, sputum