cesspool
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From earlier sesspool. Origin uncertain.
Perhaps from Italian cesso (“privy, toilet”) + English pool. Alternatively, an alteration of English dialectal suspool, from suss, soss (“puddle; mire”) + pool. Another possible derivation is from a folk etymology (influence from pool) from earlier cesperalle, alteration of Middle English suspiral, from Middle French souspirail (“air hole”), from soupirer, souspirer (“to sigh, breathe”), from Latin suspirare.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈsɛsˌpuːl/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]cesspool (plural cesspools)
- An underground pit where sewage is held.
- (by extension) A filthy place.
- 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet. A Detective Story, 3rd edition, London, New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co., […], published 1892, →OCLC:
- Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Coordinate terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]place for sewage
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filthy place
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References
[edit]Categories:
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English terms derived from Italian
- English compound terms
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
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