Etymology From Middle English spouten, from Middle Dutch spoiten, spouten (> Dutch spuiten (“to spout”)), from Old Dutch *spūten, *spīuten, *spīwetten, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwatjaną. Compare Swedish spruta (“squirt, syringe”). See also spit, spew.
A tube or lip through which liquid or steam is poured or discharged.
I dropped my china teapot, and its spout broke.
I put a spout in the maple tree to collect its sap
2
A waterspout (“channel through which water is discharged, especially from the gutters of a roof”).
3
A stream or discharge of liquid, typically with some degree of force.
A spout of blood flew from his mouth, spattering Smichov's linen trousers.2010, James Fleming, Cold Blood, page 160:
4
A stream of water that falls from higher to lower; a (typically thin) waterfall.
[…] the river rushes over the Auchinlilie Lin or Spout, a tremendous chataract^([sic]); after which it proceeds in a more quiet course, and is navigable to the village of Carron Shore.1805, Robert Forsyth, The Beauties of Scotland: Containing a Clear and Full Account of the Agriculture, Commerce, Mines, and Manufactures; of the Population, Cities, Towns, Villages, &c. of Each County ..., page 388:
The Spout of Garnock is a wild and romantic waterfall upon that stream in the moors of Kilbirnie parish. The rock here is also porphyry. The porphyry upon the east side of the fall is much rent, and has fallen forward[…]1839, Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Edinburgh, Prize-essays and Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, page 434:
2 more examples
[…] a streamlet made a little spout over some stones to serve me for a water-tap.1895, Robert Louis Stevenson, An Inland Voyage: Travels with a Donkey [in the Cévennes], page 219:
[…] you can follow a footpath from the fine Victorian Mallyan Spout Hotel to the national park's most famous waterfalls – the 80ft-high Mallyan Spout. When you get to the beck, turn left, and the waterfall is a couple of hundred yards along the bank; it can be wet underfoot[…]2015 April 1, Jos Simon, The Rough Guide to Yorkshire, Rough Guides UK, →ISBN, page 245:
5
A similar stream or fall of earth, rock, etc.
The great spout of broken mineral, which had damned the canyon up.1883, The Silverado Squatters, Stevenson, section 234:
From the side of the hill … a spout of gravel was dislodged.'1883, Stevenson, Treasure Island, xv
6
A waterspout (“whirlwind or tornado that forms over water”).
He ought to haue expert coniecture of Stormes, Tempestes, and Spoutes: and such lyke Meteorologicall effectes, daungerous on Sea.2020 [1570], John Dee, The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara, →ISBN, page 69:
7
The mixture of air and water thrown up from the blowhole of a whale.
8
Australia A hollow stump formed when a tree branch breaks off.
Etymology From Middle English spouten, from Middle Dutch spoiten, spouten (> Dutch spuiten (“to spout”)), from Old Dutch *spūten, *spīuten, *spīwetten, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwatjaną. Compare Swedish spruta (“squirt, syringe”). See also spit, spew.
1
To gush forth in a jet or stream
Water spouts from a hole.
2
Ambitransitive To eject water or liquid in a jet.
The whale spouted.
The mighty whale […] spouts the tide.1697, Thomas Creech, The Whale:
3
To speak tediously or pompously.
4
To utter magniloquently; to recite in an oratorical or pompous manner.
Pray, spout some French, son.c. 1608–1610, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Coxcomb”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iv: