spit the dummy
To overreact (as an adult) to a situation, in an angry and childish manner.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He always spits the dummy when he loses a game.”
“You always spit the dummy when the internet stops working.”
“The manager spat the dummy during the meeting just because we disagreed with his new plan.”
“My roommate spat the dummy and refused to cook dinner because I forgot to wash his favorite coffee mug.”
“The customer spat the dummy at the store clerk simply because they had run out of the specific bread she wanted.”
“Rather than addressing the valid criticism professionally, the director spat the dummy and stormed out of the boardroom in a fit of pique.”
The expression draws upon the image of an infant in the throes of a tantrum who forcibly ejects its pacifier. It emerged as a colloquialism for a sudden loss of composure, equating a mature adult's emotional collapse with the reflexive, messy frustrations of the nursery. The dummy, in this instance, is the British and Australian term for the rubber teat used to induce silence in the very young.
- 01
chew the meat and spit out the bones
To take in a great deal of information and selectively disregard some of it as invalid or inapplicable.
- 02
dummy run
A trial or practice before the real attempt.
- 03
dummy spit
The act of overreacting (as an adult) to a situation childishly, in an angry or frustrated manner.
- 04
spit feathers
To feel very thirsty.
- 05
spit in the ocean
A very small or insignificant amount; something of little importance.
- 06
spit in the wind
Alternative form of piss in the wind.
- 07
spit into the wind
Alternative form of piss in the wind.
- 08
spit nails
To speak or sputter in a very angry manner.
Last updated August 10, 2026