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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A place of relatively small and definite limits.
  2. n. A mark on a surface differing sharply in color from its surroundings.
  3. n. A blemish, mark, or pimple on the skin.
  4. n. A stain or blot.
  5. n. Games A mark or pip on a playing card; a spade, club, diamond, or heart.
  6. n. Games A playing card with a specified number of such marks on it indicating its value.
  7. n. Informal A piece of paper money worth a specified number of dollars.
  8. n. A location; a locale.
  9. n. A point of interest: There are a lot of spots to visit in the old city.
  10. n. A position or an item in an ordered arrangement.
  11. n. Informal A situation, especially a troublesome one.
  12. n. A flaw in one's reputation or character.
  13. n. A short presentation or commercial on television or radio between major programs: a news spot.
  14. n. Informal A spotlight.
  15. n. A small croaker (Leiostomus xanthurus) of North American Atlantic waters, having a dark mark above each pectoral fin and valued as a food and sport fish.
  16. n. Chiefly British A small amount; a bit.
  17. v. To cause a spot or spots to appear on, especially:
  18. v. To soil with spots.
  19. v. To decorate with spots; dot.
  20. v. To harm; besmirch.
  21. v. To place in a particular location; situate precisely.
  22. v. To detect or discern, especially visually; spy.
  23. v. To remove spots from, as in a laundry.
  24. v. Sports To yield a favorable scoring margin to: spotted their opponents 11 points.
  25. v. Sports To act as a spotter for (a gymnast, for example).
  26. v. Informal To lend: Can you spot me $25 until payday?
  27. v. To become marked with spots.
  28. v. To cause a discoloration or make a stain.
  29. v. To locate targets from the air during combat or training missions.
  30. adj. Made, paid, or delivered immediately: a spot sale.
  31. adj. Of, relating to, or being a market in which payment or delivery is immediate: the spot market in oil.
  32. adj. Involving random or selective instances or actions: a spot investigation.
  33. adj. Presented between major radio or television programs: a spot announcement.
  34. idiom. in spots Now and then; here and there; occasionally.
  35. idiom. on the spot Without delay; at once.
  36. idiom. on the spot At the scene of action.
  37. idiom. on the spot Under pressure or attention; in a pressed position.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A stain made by foreign matter; a blot; a speck.
  2. n. A blemish; a flaw, a fault; especially, a stain upon moral purity.
  3. n. A bit of surface differing in some way from the rest, as in color, material, or finish; a dot; a small mark. Specifically—(a ) A patch; a beauty-spot.
  4. n. A pustule or other eruptive mark, as in a rash.
  5. n. One of the pips on a playing-card; hence, in composition with a numeral, the card having pips to the number expressed: as, to play a ten-spot
  6. n. One of two marked points on a billiard-table, on which balls are placed, or from which they are to be played.
  7. n. A dark place on the disk or face of the sun or of a planet. See sun-spot.
  8. n. In zaöl., a color-mark of rounded or indeterminate form, but not very long for its width, and thus not forming a streak or stripe; a blotch; a macula: usually said of markings larger or than those called dots or points. An eyed spot forms an ocellus (which see).
  9. n. A small extent of space; a particular locality; a place; a site.
  10. n. A piece; a bit; hence, something very minute; a particle; an atom.
  11. n. A breed of domestic pigeons having a spot on the head above the beak.
  12. n. Asciænoid fish, Liostomus xanthurus (obliquus), also called goody, lafayette, oldwife, and pig-fish. See cut under lafayette.
  13. n. The southern redfish or drum, Sciænops ocellatus. See cut under redfish.
  14. n. A small fishing-ground.
  15. n. At the precise place and time; at the place and time at which something specified occurred: as, a picture of a skirmish made on the spot.
  16. To make a spot on; blot; stain; discolor or defile in a spot or spots.
  17. To mar the perfection or moral purity of; blemish; tarnish; sully.
  18. To mark or cover with spots; mark in spots: dot.
  19. Specifically To put a patch or patches on (the face) by way of ornament.
  20. To mark as with a spot; especially, to note as of suspicious or doubtful character. Tuft's Glossary of Thieves' Jargon (1798).
  21. To note or recognize by some peculiarity; catch with the eye; detect; come upon; find out.
  22. In horse-racing, to indicate, give a hint as to, or name: as, to spot the winner of a future race.
  23. To place upon a spot; specifically, in billiards, to place (a ball) on one of the spots or marks on the table.
  24. To make a spot; cause a stain, discoloration, orshadow.
  25. To be subject to spots; he easily spotted: as, a fabric that spots when exposed to damp.
  26. n. A small piece of ground or inclosure; a plot: applied to land or crops.
  27. Made, paid, delivered, or the like, on the spot, or at once: as, spot wheat.
  28. In New Zealand, to buy up (choice spots of land containing water, etc.), ruining the neighboring property. Called peacock in Australia.
  29. See blaze, 2, 3.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A round or irregular patch on the surface of a thing having a different color, texture etc. and generally round in shape.
  2. n. A stain or disfiguring mark.
  3. n. A pimple, papule or pustule.
  4. n. A small, unspecified amount or quantity.
  5. n. A bill of five-dollar or ten-dollar denomination in dollars.
  6. n. A location or area.
  7. n. An official determination of placement.
  8. n. A bright lamp; a spotlight.
  9. n. A brief advertisement or program segment on television.
  10. n. Difficult situation; predicament
  11. n. One who spots (supports or assists a maneuver, or is prepared to assist if safety dictates); a spotter
  12. n. penalty kick
  13. v. To see, find; to pick out, notice, locate, distinguish or identify
  14. v. To loan a small amount of money to someone.
  15. v. To stain; to leave a spot.
  16. v. To remove, or attempt to remove, a stain.
  17. v. To support or assist a maneuver, or to be prepared to assist if safety dictates.
  18. v. To keep the head and eyes pointing in a single direction while turning.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A mark on a substance or body made by foreign matter; a blot; a place discolored.
  2. n. A stain on character or reputation; something that soils purity; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish.
  3. n. A small part of a different color from the main part, or from the ground upon which it is.
  4. n. A small extent of space; a place; any particular place.
  5. n. A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above its beak.
  6. n. A sciænoid 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.
  7. n. The southern redfish, or red horse, which has a spot on each side at the base of the tail. See Redfish.
  8. n. Commodities, as merchandise and cotton, sold for immediate delivery.
  9. v. To make visible marks upon with some foreign matter; to discolor in or with spots; to stain; to cover with spots or figures
  10. v. To mark or note so as to insure recognition; to recognize; to detect.
  11. v. To stain; to blemish; to taint; to disgrace; to tarnish, as reputation; to asperse.
  12. v. To become stained with spots.
  13. adj. Lit., being on the spot, or place on hand for immediate delivery after sale; -- said of commodities.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. make a spot or mark onto
  2. v. mark with a spot or spots so as to allow easy recognition
  3. n. a business establishment for entertainment
  4. n. a slight attack of illness
  5. n. a point located with respect to surface features of some region
  6. n. a small contrasting part of something
  7. v. mar or impair with a flaw
  8. v. become spotted
  9. n. a short section or illustration (as between radio or tv programs or in a magazine) that is often used for advertising
  10. v. catch sight of
  11. v. detect with the senses
  12. n. a small piece or quantity of something
  13. n. a playing card with a specified number of pips on it to indicate its value
  14. n. an outstanding characteristic
  15. n. a lamp that produces a strong beam of light to illuminate a restricted area; used to focus attention of a stage performer
  16. n. an act that brings discredit to the person who does it
  17. n. a blemish made by dirt
  18. n. a mark on a die or on a playing card (shape depending on the suit)
  19. n. a job in an organization
  20. n. a section of an entertainment that is assigned to a specific performer or performance

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old English.

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • milosrdenstvi A useful term for 'a bit of', as in, "I'll have a spot of orange juice, please?" Aug 21, 2008

‘spot’ has been looked up 1853 times, loved by 2 people, added to 30 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 6.