Spot, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Spotted; p. pr. & vb. n.
Spotting.] 1. To make visible marks upon
with some foreign matter; to discolor in or with spots; to stain; to
cover with spots or figures; as, to spot a garnment; to
spot paper.
2. To mark or note so as to insure
recognition; to recognize; to detect; as, to spot a
criminal. [Cant]
3. To stain; to blemish; to taint; to
disgrace; to tarnish, as reputation; to asperse.
My virgin life no spotted thoughts shall
stain.
Sir P. Sidney.
If ever I shall close these eyes but once,
May I live spotted for my perjury.
Beau. &
Fl.
To spot timber, to cut or chip it, in
preparation for hewing.
Spot, v. i. To become stained with
spots.
Spot (?), a. Lit., being on the
spot, or place; hence (Com.), on hand for immediate
delivery after sale; -- said of commodities; as, spot
wheat.
Spot (?), 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.
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
Shak.
2. A stain on character or reputation;
something that soils purity; disgrace; reproach; fault;
blemish.
Yet Chloe, sure, was formed without a
spot.
Pope.
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.
4. A small extent of space; a place; any
particular place. "Fixed to one spot." Otway.
That spot to which I point is
Paradise.
Milton.
"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old!
But something ails it now: the spot is cursed."
Wordsworth.
5. (Zoöl.) A variety of the common
domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above its
beak.
6. (Zoöl.) (a) 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.
(b) The southern redfish, or red horse, which has
a spot on each side at the base of the tail. See
Redfish.
7. pl. Commodities, as merchandise and
cotton, sold for immediate delivery. [Broker's Cant]
Crescent spot (Zoöl.), any
butterfly of the family Melitæidæ 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
ilumination; -- called also spotted lens. -- Spot
rump (Zoöl.), the Hudsonian godwit
(Limosa hæmastica). -- Spots on the
sun. (Astron.) See Sun spot, ander
Sun. -- On, or Upon,
the spot, immediately; before moving; without
changing place.
It was determined upon the spot.
Swift.
Syn. -- Stain; flaw; speck; blot; disgrace; reproach; fault;
blemish; place; site; locality.