catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Spot \Spot\ (sp[o^]t), n. [Cf. Scot. & D. spat, Dan. spette, Sw.
     spott spittle, slaver; from the root of E. spit. See Spit
     to eject from the mouth, and cf. Spatter.]
     1. A mark on a substance or body made by foreign matter; a
        blot; a place discolored.
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              Out, damned spot! Out, I say!         --Shak.
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     2. A stain on character or reputation; something that soils
        purity; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish.
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              Yet Chloe, sure, was formed without a spot. --Pope.
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     3. A small part of a different color from the main part, or
        from the ground upon which it is; as, the spots of a
        leopard; the spots on a playing card.
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     4. A small extent of space; a place; any particular place.
        ``Fixed to one spot.'' --Otway.
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              That spot to which I point is Paradise. --Milton.
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              ``A jolly place,'' said he, ``in times of old!
              But something ails it now: the spot is cursed.''
                                                    --Wordsworth.
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     5. (Zo["o]l.) A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so
        called from a spot on its head just above its beak.
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     6. (Zo["o]l.)
        (a) A sci[ae]noid food fish ({Liostomus xanthurus) of the
            Atlantic coast of the United States. It has a black
            spot behind the shoulders and fifteen oblique dark
            bars on the sides. Called also goody, Lafayette,
            masooka, and old wife.
        (b) The southern redfish, or red horse, which has a spot
            on each side at the base of the tail. See Redfish.
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     7. pl. Commodities, as merchandise and cotton, sold for
        immediate delivery. [Broker's Cant]
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     Crescent spot (Zo["o]l.), any butterfly of the family
        Melit[ae]id[ae] having crescent-shaped white spots along
        the margins of the red or brown wings.
  
     Spot lens (Microscopy), a condensing lens in which the
        light is confined to an annular pencil by means of a
        small, round diaphragm (the spot), and used in dark-field
        illumination; -- called also spotted lens.
  
     Spot rump (Zo["o]l.), the Hudsonian godwit ({Limosa
        h[ae]mastica).
  
     Spots on the sun. (Astron.) See Sun spot, ander Sun.
  
     On the spot, or Upon the spot, immediately; before
        moving; without changing place; as, he made his decision
        on the spot.
  
              It was determined upon the spot.      --Swift.
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     Syn: Stain; flaw; speck; blot; disgrace; reproach; fault;
          blemish; place; site; locality.
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