cesspool
/ˈsɛsˌpuːl/ noun
Forms cesspools cess pool sesspool
- noun An underground pit where sewage is held.
- noun (by extension, figurative, derogatory) A filthy place.
Synonyms
Etymology
Perhaps from Italian cesso (“privy, a toilet”) + English pool. Alternatively, an alteration of English dialectal suspool, from suss, soss (“a 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 (“an air hole”), from soupirer, souspirer (“to sigh, breathe”), from Latin suspirare.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A cistern in the course, or the termination, of a drain, to collect sedimentary or superfluous matter; a privy vault; any receptace of filth. [Written also sesspool.]
Etymology [See Sesspol.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cesspool”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details