expectorate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to cough up and expel phlegm or other material from the lungs or throat

   The infection caused him to expectorate thick sputum.

2. 2
   verb

   formal: to spit

   Passengers were warned not to expectorate on the station platform.

From Latin expectorare, 'drive from the breast,' built from ex-, 'out of,' and pectus, 'breast or chest.' The medical sense refers literally to expelling material from the respiratory tract.

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