cesspool

• cess pool, sesspool

From earlier sesspool. Origin uncertain.

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛsˌpuːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

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cesspool (plural cesspools)

1. An underground pit where sewage is held.

   Synonyms: cesspit, gongpit

   Coordinate term: septic tank

2. (by extension, figurative, derogatory) A filthy place.

   Synonym: cesspit

   • 1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter I (Mr. Sherlock Holmes), page 2:

     Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.