spat

«spat» in Mova's school dictionary: the past form of «spit»: to force liquid, food or saliva… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb form (past of spit: spit, spits, spat/spit, spitting); noun (a spat, spats)

meaning for a pupil

1) Spat is the past form of «spit»: to force liquid, food or saliva out of your mouth. tree →

2) A spat is a short, small argument or quarrel. tree →

3) Spats (old-fashioned) are cloth covers worn over the top of shoes. tree →

sense in the lessons

In manners and hygiene lessons spitting is rude and spreads germs. In stories a character «spat out» angry words. In everyday life children have small spats with friends that are soon over. Phrases: «spat it out», «spat at», «a spat with a friend».

examples

• He spat out the sour sweet. tree →
• The llama spat at the visitor! tree →
• The cat hissed and spat. tree →
• «Go away!» she spat angrily. tree →
• My sister and I had a spat over the TV remote. tree →
• The fire spat sparks onto the rug. tree →
• In revenge the Serpent spat some of his poison into the man's drinking-horn. tree →

note

Past of «spit»: «spat» (UK and US) or «spit» (also in the US). Spitting at people is very rude and can spread illness. «Spitting image» means looking exactly alike.

In the corpora

• Toothpaste is spat out, not swallowed, because too much swallowed fluoride is not good for the body.
• In a storm Jonah was thrown overboard, swallowed by a great fish and spat out on land after three days.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «spat» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.