Meanings
plural spitting distances · alternative shouting distance
- idiomaticA short distance.
They live within spitting distance of a busy runway at London's Heathrow Airport.
1972 September, John Pearson, “Science Worldwide”, in Popular Mechanics, page 363 more examples
[N]o less than forty defaulters in the executive, within spitting distance of the President, have not alone been proved so, but still retain their places.
1840, A. Traveller, Notes upon Canada and the United States: from 1832 to 1840, Rogers and Thompson (Toronto), p. 180In these craft they risk the extreme perils of the sea. . . . They have been within spitting distance of collision and bumping distance of the bottom.
1899 April 27, Rudyard Kipling, quoted in "A Fleet in Being: Men who take their chances," West Coast Times (New Zealand), p. 4 (retrieved 15 Oct 2010)"Look around. Justice Building. County Jail. Sheriff's Department. A thousand cops within spitting distance."
2007, Paul Levine, Trial & Error, →ISBN, page 120
Translations
French à un jet de pierre, à deux doigts
- à un jet de pierrea short distance
- à deux doigtsa short distance
Greek δυο βήματα
- δυο βήματα (dyo vímata)a short distance
Hungarian köpésnyi
- köpésnyia short distance
Turkish kıl payı
- kıl payıa short distance
Cite this entry
spitting distance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spitting%20distance
“spitting distance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spitting%20distance. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spitting distance,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spitting%20distance.
Source: spitting distance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.