A spittoon. Since the use of tobacco for chewing became common, some name for the necessary receptacle had to be found. Smollett in ‘Roderick Random’ (1748) writes of “a convenience to spit in.” Rows of spittoons may be seen on any Saturday, outside many country meeting-houses in the U.S., ready to be placed in the pews; and the writer has seen a few on the graded seats for apostles, bishops, &c., in the Mormon Tabernacle, though they are not great chewers.
1779. Before each person was placed a large brass salver, a black earthen pot of water, and a brass cuspadore.—Forrest, ‘Voyage to New Guinea,’ p. 235. (N.E.D.)
1875. Bright, fanciful “cuspadores” instead of a broad wooden box filled with sawdust.—Mark Twain, ‘Old Times on the Mississippi,’ Atlantic Monthly, xxxv. p. 220/2 (Feb.).
1902. Rayburn threw his cigar into a cuspidor.—W. N. Harben, ‘Abner Daniel,’ p. 271.
