You searched for: “expectorating
expectorate (verb), expectorates; expectorated; expectorating
1. To eject from the throat or lungs by coughing and spitting.
2. To eject saliva, mucus, or other body fluid from the mouth; to spit.
3. To clear out the chest and lungs by coughing up and spitting out matter; such as, mucous.
4. To cough up and spit out phlegm, thus clearing the bronchial passages.
5. Etymology: "to clear out the chest or lungs," from Latin expectoratus, past participle of expectore, "scorn, expel from the mind"; litterally "to make a clean breast" from ex-, "out" + pectus, "breast, chest".

Use as a euphemism for "spit" is first recorded 1827.

This entry is located in the following units: ex-, e-, ef- (page 4) pectoro-, pector- + (page 1)