Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1600-1700
Origin: cesperal 'cesspool' (1500-1600), probably from suspiral 'air hole' (14-16 centuries), from Old French souspirail, from souspirer 'to sigh'; influenced by pool

cesspit

 noun
     
Related topics: Daily Life
cess‧pit [countable]
1 also cess‧poolD a large hole or container under the ground in which waste from a building, especially from the toilets, is collected
2 a place or situation in which people behave in a bad or immoral way:
For weeks the affair threatened to be a cesspit of scandal.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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