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SPIT

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 708 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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SPIT , a rotating See also:

bar for roasting See also:

MEAT

meat, See also:

GAME

game or poultry. A spit usually has one or more prongs to which the meat is fixed; in the See also:

case of a See also:

BASKET

basket-spit it is enclosed in an oblong basket of See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron See also:

WIRE (A.S. wir, a wire; cf. Swed. vire, to twist, M.H.G. wiere, a gold ornament, Lat. viriae, armlets, ultimately from the root wi, to twist, bind)

wire. The old See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of spit was fixed on hooks or upon rachets on the See also:

FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire-See also:

DOGS, ISLE OF

dogs; at one end of the bar is a grooved See also:

wheel for a See also:

CHAIN (through the O. Fr. citable, chcene, &c., from Lat. catena)

chain connected with a See also:

SMOKE (from O. Eng. smeocan, to smoke, reek, cf. Dutch meek, Ger. Schmauch, probably allied to Gr. vol9caiv)

smoke-See also:

JACK

jack in the See also:

CHIMNEY (through the Fr. cheminee, from caminata, sc. camera, a Lat. derivative of caminus, an oven or furnace)

chimney, or some similar contrivance for turning the spit so that every See also:

SURFACE

surface of the meat is exposed to the fire in turn. The jack was sometimes turned by a boy or a small See also:

DOG

dog trained for the purpose, the boy and the dog were equally known as turn-spits. The spits, when not in use, were placed in a spit-See also:

RACK

rack over the fireplace. These See also:

PRIMITIVE

primitive arrangements eventually gave See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place to a combined spit and See also:

MECHANICAL

mechanical roasting-jack, which was fixed to a small See also:

crane projecting from the mantelpiece. The jack, which was largely of See also:

brass, rotated when See also:

WOUND (O. Eng. wund,connected with a Teutonic verb, meaning to strive, fight, suffer, seen in O. Eng. winnan, whence Eng. " win ")

wound up, and the meat was hung below it immediately in front of the fire, and the See also:

GRAVY

gravy and dripping were caught in a large shallow See also:

metal See also:

pan with a high See also:

SCREEN (usually, but very doubtfully, connected with Lat. scrinium, a box for holding books, from scribere, to write; a connexion with Ger. Schranke, barrier, has been suggested)

screen to prevent the See also:

DIFFUSION (from the Lat. diffundere; dis-, asunder, and fundere, to pour out)

diffusion of See also:

HEAT (0. E. haktu, which like " hot," Old Eng. hat, is from the Teutonic type haita, hit, to be hot; cf. Ger. hitze, heiss; Dutch, hitte, heet, &c.)

heat. The almost universal employment in See also:

England of closed kitcheners has thrown all forms of spits and jacks into disuse, but in old-fashioned kitchens they are still sometimes seen. The more See also:

ancient forms of roasting apparatus are now much sought after by collectors.

End of Article: SPIT

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