Spot /(spŏt)/

Spot

n.
  1. A mark on a substance or body made by foreign matter; a blot; a place discolored.
    Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
  2. A stain on character or reputation; something that soils purity; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish.
    Yet Chloe, sure, was formed without a spot.
  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.
    That spot to which I point is Paradise.
    “A jolly place,” said he, “in times of old! But something ails it now: the spot is cursed.”
  5. A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above its beak. (Zool.)
  6. A sciaenoid 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. (Zool.)
  7. Commodities, as merchandise and cotton, sold for immediate delivery. [Broker's Cant]
    It was determined upon the spot.

Phrases & Compounds
Crescent spot
any butterfly of the family Melitaeidae having crescent-shaped white spots along the margins of the red or brown wings.
Spot lens
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 illumination; -- called also spotted lens.
Spot rump
the Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica).
Spots on the sun
See Sun spot, ander Sun.
On the spot
immediately; before moving; without changing place; as, he made his decision on the spot.

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 garment; 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.
    If ever I shall close these eyes but once, May I live spotted for my perjury.

Phrases & Compounds
To spot timber
to cut or chip it, in preparation for hewing.

Spot

v. i.
  1. To become stained with spots.

Spot

a.
  1. Lit., being on the spot, or place; (Com.)