Word Meanings - TURNSPIT - Book Publishers vocabulary database

A small breed of dogs having a long body and short crooked legs. These dogs were formerly much used for turning a spit on which meat was roasting. (more info) 1. One who turns a spit; hence, a person engaged in some menial office. His lordship

Additional info about word: TURNSPIT

A small breed of dogs having a long body and short crooked legs. These dogs were formerly much used for turning a spit on which meat was roasting. (more info) 1. One who turns a spit; hence, a person engaged in some menial office. His lordship is his majesty's turnspit. Burke.

Related words: (words related to TURNSPIT)

• BREATHE
  Etym: 1. To respire; to inhale and exhale air; hence;, to live. "I am in health, I breathe." Shak. Breathes there a man with soul so dead Sir W. Scott. 2. To take breath; to rest from action. Well! breathe awhile, and then to it again! Shak. 3.
• BREVIARY
  summary, abridgment, neut. noun fr. breviarius abridged, fr. brevis 1. An abridgment; a compend; an epitome; a brief account or summary. A book entitled the abridgment or breviary of those roots that are to be cut up or gathered. Holland. 2. A
• HAVENED
  Sheltered in a haven. Blissful havened both from joy and pain. Keats.
• BREAKMAN
  See BRAKEMAN
• CROOKBILL
  A New Zealand plover , remarkable for having the end of the beak abruptly bent to the right.
• HAVENER
  A harbor master.
• BREAKABLE
  Capable of being broken.
• PERSONNEL
  The body of persons employed in some public service, as the army, navy, etc.; -- distinguished from matériel.
• PERSONIFICATION
  A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstract idea is represented as animated, or endowed with personality; prosopopas, the floods clap their hands. "Confusion heards his voice." Milton. (more info) 1. The act of personifying;
• BREADEN
  Made of bread.
• TURNINGNESS
  The quality of turning; instability; tergiversation. Sir P. Sidney.
• TURNSTONE
  Any species of limicoline birds of the genera Strepsilas and Arenaria, allied to the plovers, especially the common American and European species . They are so called from their habit of turning up small stones in search of mollusks and
• BREECHCLOTH
  A cloth worn around the breech.
• SHORT-WITED
  Having little wit; not wise; having scanty intellect or judgment.
• TURNING
  The pieces, or chips, detached in the process of turning from the material turned. (more info) 1. The act of one who, or that which, turns; also, a winding; a bending course; a fiexure; a meander. Through paths and turnings often trod
• OFFICEHOLDER
  An officer, particularly one in the civil service; a placeman.
• CROOKES TUBE
  A vacuum tube in which the exhaustion is carried to a very high degree, with the production of a distinct class of effects; -- so called from W. Crookes who introduced it.
• TURN-SICK
  Giddy. Bacon.
• BREADBASKET
  The stomach. S. Foote.
• FORMERLY
  In time past, either in time immediately preceding or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore.
• UNDERBRED
  Not thoroughly bred; ill-bred; as, an underbred fellow. Goldsmith.
• RE-TURN
  To turn again.
• MAKE AND BREAK
  Any apparatus for making and breaking an electric circuit; a circuit breaker.
• CHICKEN-BREASTED
  Having a narrow, projecting chest, caused by forward curvature of the vertebral column.
• LIBRETTO
  A book containing the words of an opera or extended piece of music. The words themselves.
• LAWBREAKER
  One who disobeys the law; a criminal. -- Law"break`ing, n. & a.
• POST OFFICE
  See POST
• REENGAGEMENT
  A renewed or repeated engagement.
• SABRE
  See SABER
• SPANKING BREEZE
  a strong breeze.
• TIMBREL
  A kind of drum, tabor, or tabret, in use from the highest antiquity. Miriam . . . took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. Ex. xv. 20. (more info) typmanum, Gr. tabl a drum; cf. Per. tambal
• NOCTURNAL
  1. Of, pertaining to, done or occuring in, the night; as, nocturnal darkness, cries, expedition, etc.; -- opposed to Ant: diurnal. Dryden. 2. Having a habit of seeking food or moving about at night; as, nocturnal birds and insects.
• SINGLE-BREASTED
  Lapping over the breast only far enough to permit of buttoning, and having buttons on one edge only; as, a single-breasted coast.