expectorate
verb /ɪkˈspektəreɪt/
/ɪkˈspektəreɪt/
[intransitive] (formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they expectorate | /ɪkˈspektəreɪt/ /ɪkˈspektəreɪt/ |
| he / she / it expectorates | /ɪkˈspektəreɪts/ /ɪkˈspektəreɪts/ |
| past simple expectorated | /ɪkˈspektəreɪtɪd/ /ɪkˈspektəreɪtɪd/ |
| past participle expectorated | /ɪkˈspektəreɪtɪd/ /ɪkˈspektəreɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form expectorating | /ɪkˈspektəreɪtɪŋ/ /ɪkˈspektəreɪtɪŋ/ |
- to cough and make phlegm (= a thick substance) come up from your lungs into your mouth so you can spit it outWord Originearly 17th cent. (in the sense ‘enable sputum to be coughed up’, referring to medicine): from Latin expectorat- ‘expelled from the chest’, from the verb expectorare, from ex- ‘out’ + pectus, pector- ‘breast’.