Spot (pronounced spot)
(1) A
rounded mark or stain made by foreign matter, as mud, blood, paint, ink etc; a
blot or speck, differing usually in colour or texture from its surroundings.
(2) A small
blemish, mole, or lesion on the skin or other surface (popularly associated
with pimple, zits, blackheads etc).
(3) A
small, circumscribed mark caused by disease, allergic reaction, decay, etc.
(4) A comparatively
small, usually roundish, part of a surface differing from the rest in color,
texture, character etc.
(5) A
place or locality (used also in the plural, often to describe places of
entertainment, sightseeing locations, historic sites etc and also used of
things like parking spots).
(6) In
organisational structures, a specific position in a sequence or hierarchy.
(7) In
playing cards, one of various traditional, geometric drawings of a club,
diamond, heart, or spade indicating suit and value.
(8) A
pip, as on dice or dominoes.
(9) In
slang, a piece of paper money (5 spot=$5 etc).
(10) As
a clipping of “spot illustration”, a small drawing, usually black and white,
appearing within or accompanying a text.
(11) A
small quantity of anything.
(12) In
ichthyology, a small croaker (Leiostomus xanthurus) with a black spot behind
the shoulders and fifteen oblique dark bars on the sides, the habitat of which
is the US east coast; the southern redfish, or red horse (Sciaenops ocellatus),
which has a spot on each side at the base of the tai; both popular as food
fish.
(13) As
a clipping of “spot market”, the informal terms for commodities (grain, oil,
wool et al) sold for immediate delivery and payment at a price quoted at the
point of sale.
(14) A
slang term for a spotlight.
(15) To
stain or mark with spots:
(16) In
dry cleaning, to remove a spot or spots from clothing, prior to processing.
(17) In
any context, to make a spot; to become spotted.
(18) In
the military (often as target spotter or spotting), law enforcement or among
criminals etc, to serve or act as a spotter.
(19) In
billiards, a clipping of “spot ball” the white ball that is distinguished from
the plain by a mark or spot; the player using this ball.
(20) To
look out for and note; to observe or perceive suddenly, especially under
difficult circumstances; to discern.
(21) In
informal use (US) in some games and sports, to yield an advantage or concession
to one's opponent.
(22) In
zoology, a term used to describe various dot-like patterns (ladybirds, leopards
et al) seen on the skin, wings, coats etc of some animals.
(23) In
sports, an official determination of placement (where a referee or umpire
places a ball, sets the point at which a penalty kick is to be taken etc).
(24) In
broadcasting (radio & television), brief advertisement or program segment.
(25) In
gymnastics, dance & weightlifting, one who spots (supports or assists a
manoeuvre, or is prepared to assist if safety dictates); a spotter.
(26) A
variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just
above the beak.
(27) In
the jargon of financial trading, the decimal point (used to ensure no
ambiguities in oral exchanges).
(28) In
physics, a dissipative soliton (a stable solitary localized structure that
arises in nonlinear spatially extended dissipative systems due to mechanisms of
self-organization); known also as a pulse.
(29) In
slang (US), to loan a small amount of money to someone.
(30) In
analogue & digital photograph editing, to remove minor flaws.
(31) In
ballet, to keep the head and eyes pointing in a single direction while turning.
(32) To
cut or chip timber in preparation for hewing.
(33) In
naval aviation, to position an aircraft on the deck of an aircraft carrier
ready for launch by catapult.
(34) In
rail transport, to position a locomotive or car at a predetermined point
(typically for loading or unloading).
1150-1200:
From the Middle English spot & spotte (a moral blemish), partially from
the Middle Dutch spotte (spot, speck,
mark), and partially a merging with the Middle English splot, from the Old English splott
(spot, speck, plot of land). It was
cognate with the East Frisian spot
(speck), the North Frisian spot
(speck, piece of ground), the Low German spot
(speck) and the Old Norse spotti
(small piece) and the Norwegian spot (spot, small piece of land); it was related
also to splotch. Describing originally
some flaw of character, the idea of a “speck, stain left by something on a
surface” emerged in the mid-fourteenth century, picked up from the Old English splott.
The late Middle English verb spotten
(to stain, mark) was a derivative of the noun.
Variations of the form are common in Germanic languages but the nature
of the spread and evolution remains murky.
From the early fourteenth century it was used to describe “a patch or
mark on the fur of an animal while the sense of a “particular place, small
extent of space (on a body, etc”) dated from the late 1300s, the general
figurative use "a blemish, defect, distinguishing mark emerging at the
same time, concurrent with the now familiar use to refer to pimple, zips etc,
soon to be celebrated in the medical literature as “an eruption on the skin”. The adjective spotless was from the late
fourteenth century spotless (without flaw or blemish; pure). The adjective spotty was from the
mid-fourteenth century spotti, (marked with spots (of the skin, etc)) and it
entered figurative use in the sense of “unsteady, irregular, uneven, without
unity” in 1932. Spot is a noun, verb
& adjective, spotter & spotlessness are nouns, spotlike, spotless’
spotty & spottable are adjectives, spotting & spots are nouns &
verbs, spotlessly is an adverb and spotted is a verb & adjective; the noun
plural is spots.
The
early nineteenth century use of “spotty” in art criticism was originally a
critique and unrelated either to the later technique of divisionism (sometimes
called chromoluminarism), most associated with Neo-Impressionist painting and
defined by the colors being separated into individual dots or daubs or the “dot
paintings” associated with some forms of Indigenous Australian art. The meaning “short interval in a radio broadcast
for an advertisement or announcement” dates from 1937, an extension of the
earlier use in live theatre to describe “an act's position on a bill”, noted
since as surprisingly late 1923.
Although it’s likely to have been longer in oral use, in 1901 it noted
in the US as a term for a prison sentence (5 spot=5 years etc).
1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351. Even when standing still the thing undeniably had a presence but the sheer volume of the rear coachwork created blind spots and the dramatic roofline (said to be highly aerodynamic) restricted rearward visibility, the glass close to horizontal.
The
term “blind spot” began in optics in 1864 describing a “spot within one's range
of vision but where one cannot see” which in 1872 was described scientifically
as “the point on the retina insensitive to light (where the optic nerve enters
the eye”. The figurative use (of moral,
intellectual matters etc) dates from 1907 while the literal (a field of vision
blocked by some fixed object) was used by 1912, originally of those suffered by omnibus drivers and
later it became familiar when describing defects in the visibility offered by
the design of early automobiles. Dating
from 1888, “hot spot” was originally a term from dermatology which referred to
the focal point of a skin irritation and was literal, the temperature at the
(usually reddish) site slightly higher.
In 1931 it was use of “nightclubs or other entertainment venues" (which
after 1936 were “nightspots” generally) while it came into use in fire-fighting
in 1938 after research indicated the most effective way to prevent spread or
lower intensity was to find the points of highest temperature. It 1941, it came to be applied to “a place of
international conflict”. The famous g
spot (also a g-spot and short for Gräfenberg spot, named for German
gynecologist Ernst Gräfenberg (1881-1957)) entered English in 1981 although the
doctor had described it in a paper published in 1950 but similar finding are in
documents dating back centuries. He also
developed the intra-uterine device (IUD) but despite these notable contributions to science he died
in obscurity.
The
noun spotter (one who makes spots; one who observes things for some purpose)
was first used in 1876 as a slang for “a detective”, picking up from the verb
in the secondary sense of “catch with the eye” and by 1903 it was used in the general
sense of a “look-out”, adopted with apparently equal enthusiasm by police and
criminals alike. It was a designated
position in hunting and target practice by 1893 but the military appear not to
have picked it up until the World War I (1914-1918) although such tasks had
existed for centuries, pre-dating even artillery, batteries of archers
supported by an observer who reported their accuracy of fire. In the navy, they were also called “sighters”
and the use of “spotter” for this purpose has even extended to electronic
hardware. The sunspot in 1818 was again
from dermatology and referred to “a spot on the skin caused by exposure to the Sun”,
the term picked up in 1849 by the early heliophysicists to describe the “spots
on the surface of the Sun”.
Spotlights (actually anti-aircraft searchlights) used to create the Lichtdom (literally "Cathedral of Light") effect at the Nazi's Nuremberg Rallies during the 1930s.
The spotlight
(source of artificial light casting a narrow, relatively intense beam) was
first described in 1904 as a piece of theatrical equipment with the figurative
sense dating from 1916 where it could carry either negative or positive
connotations (unlike the companion “limelight” which was always positive). The military did use the term spotlight but the
“searchlight” was a more frequent entry in lists of materiel. The hobby (which for some seems either a
calling or obsession) of train-spotting was first documented in 1959 (the train
spotter having been mentioned the previous year) and referred to those who observed,
collected and collated the numbers of railway locomotives, one’s status in the
field determined by the number of unique entries in one’s list. The habit caught on and there are also car
spotters, truck spotters, bus spotters and plane spotters, the last once
causing an international incident when a group were arrested outside a Greek
military airfield by police who confiscated their notebooks and cameras,
accusing them of spying. The matter was
resolved.
Hitting the spot: Crooked Hillary Clinton enjoys a shot of Crown Royal Bourbon Whiskey, Bronko's restaurant, Crown Point, Indiana, Saturday 12 April, 2008.
In
idiomatic use, the phrase “hit the spot” (satisfy, be what is required) was
first document in 1857 while the companion “spot on” doesn’t seem to have been
used until 1920. Earlier, “on the spot”
by the 1670s meant “at once, without moving or delay” and a decade later “in
the precise place and time” hence to be “on the spot” implied one “doing just
what is right and needed”, a form noted since 1884. The term “man on the spot” assumed some
importance in diplomatic and military chains of command in the times before
modes of communications were global, convenient and real-time, a recognition the
one best equipped to make a decision was “the man on the spot”; then all
certainly were men. To “put someone on
the spot” or “leave them in “a bit of a spot (or a “tight spot”)” was to “place
them in a difficult situation”, use dating from 1928 and 1929 respectively. The “spot check” (an inspection of a sample
chosen at random) was first described (though doubtless a long-established
practice) in 1933 and was used as a verb by 1944. The
term “sweet spot” is a mid-twentieth century formation which means “the optimal
point and is used to describe (1) in acoustics the point of optimal sound
delivered by the positioning of speakers, (2) in economics the optional outcome
in a cost-benefit analysis, (3) in sporting equipment the location on a tennis
racquet, baseball bat etc which produces the most satisfactory effect on the
ball, (4) in phonetics the state of harmonic resonance in the larynx which
produces the perfect sound and (5) as a euphemistic, the clitoris, G-spot or
other source of sexual pleasure.
Generally, it’s used to mean “any ideal location or situation.
In zoology, the nomenclature can mislead non-specialists: The black spotted estuary cod (left) is a fish with black spots whereas the black spotted pond turtle (right) is a black amphibian with white spots.
Spot in
its original sense a taint, stigma, stain or blemish on the character of a
person is still used to suggest some moral flaw and is related to “can’t change
one’s spots” & “a leopard can’t change its spots”, the implication being
character flaws are inherent. A “weak
spot” is a specific deficiency and a “soft spot” is a “particular sympathetic
affection or weakness for a person or thing” which should not be confused with
the “soft underbelly”; such is a vulnerability. To “hit the spot” is an acknowledgement a need
has perfectly be satisfied (typically used to mean hunger has been sated or
thirst quenched. In the matter of the
weather, if it’s “just spotting”, the rain is light. A “black spot” is something bad or dangerous
while a “bright spot” is a highlight or something positive in a sea of bad
news. The use of the phrase “X marks the
spot” has expanded somewhat but originally meant “one will find what one is
looking for under an obvious sign”. Spotted
fever was a term for a number of tropical diseases (the reference to the
symptoms which appeared on the skin) dating from the 1640s. The spotted dick (suet pudding with currants
and raisins) appeared in recipe books in 1849 although the date of its creation
is uncertain.
In June 2018, it was reported the Strangers' Dining Room the
UK’s House of Commons in Westminster had changed the name of “Spotted Dick” to
“Spotted Richard” although in other parts of the country, the suet & dried
fruit sponge dessert remained on sale under the traditional name. Derided by many as “wokeness” or “political
correctness gone mad” the restaurant staff confirmed the change had been made
in case anyone found the conjunction of spotted and dick “confronting”. There’s no suggestion any complaints had been
received which might have prompted the change but ideas soon flowed about the way people might be protected from
other culinary micro-aggressions: Apple crumble was thought to be potentially
offensive to those diagnosed with anxiety disorders so it might better be
called apple support while the extra virgin olive oil offered with breads could
be triggering for the Incels (involuntary celibate men). Perhaps such oil could be labelled young
because one certainly doesn’t wish to trigger the Incels. The sight of Cock-a-leekie soup on a menu
would be challenging for both the incontinent and those recovering from certain
STIs (sexually transmitted infections which were once known as STDs (sexually
transmitted diseases and before that venereal disease (VD)) so it would be
better to play it straight and re-brand as chicken & leek soup. It
wasn’t until the 1970s VD began to be replaced by STD (VD thought to have to
have gained too many specific associations) but fortunately for AT&T, in
1951 they renamed their STD (Subscriber Toll Dialing) service to DDD (Direct
Distance Dialing), apparently for no better reason than the alliterative appeal
although it's possible they just wanted to avoid mentioning “toll” with all
that implies. Many countries in the
English-speaking world continued to use STD for the phone calls, even after the
public health specialists had re-purposed the initialization.
Famous for his sartorial daring: Tennis
player Roger Federer (b 1981), Wimbledon, July 2023.
A long-standing orthodoxy in fashion is (1) stripes and spots should never be mixed, (2) either should be worn only with
a solid and (3) there's the added caveat care should be taken with color choices. However, neither all stripes nor all spots
are created equal; dimensionality matters so if small enough and in the right
color combination, either can for these purposes work as solids and thus be
available for mix & match. To
illustrate the technique, style guru Elisabeth McKnight explains pattern mixing
with polka dots:
(1) Pick
a color palette: Black and white is an easy starter palette, but even if adding
color, stick to only a few. Find
patterns with the same colors in them or keep it easy by mixing colors of the
same tone together (pastels with pastels or jewel tones with jewel tones, for
example).
(2) Mix
patterns of different scales: Pair a small print with a large and avoid prints
of the same size. If using only one print (like a tiny polka dot skirt) with a
very small print, essentially it acts as a neutral. So, when wearing polka dots and stripes
together, ensure dots are small if the stripes are bold. Alternatively, if the print of the stripe is
small, it can be paired with bigger dots.
As a rule of thumb, use the “ten foot rule”. At that distance, to the naked eye, the
fabric with small dots or strips should be had to distinguish from a solid.
(3) Mix
textures for added dimension: Although it can be a dramatic look, especially
with statements like red or purple, interest can be added if different fabrics
are used for top and bottom garments.
How it's done: Lindsay Lohan demonstrates how spots and stripes work best with solids.
