< Back to Phrase of the Day

Spitting Image


The phrase 'Spitting Image' is used to say that one thing is the exact likeness of another.

Example of Use: “That restored Mustang is the spitting image of the one I bought brand new back in 1982.”


Interesting fact about Spitting Image

The term 'spitting image' is an allusion to someone who is so like someone else as to appear to have been spat from his mouth. The concept and phrase were in circulation by 1689, when George Farquhar used it in his play Love and a Bottle: “Poor child! He’s as like his own dada as if he were spit out of his mouth.”