Thrice on my breast I spit, to guard me safe
From fascinating charms.
Theocritos.
To unbewitch the bewitched, you must spit into the shoe of your right foot.--Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584).
Spitting for luck is a most common superstition.
Fishwomen generally spit upon their hansel.--Grose.
A blacksmith who has to shoe a stubborn horse, spits in his hand to drive off the “evil spirit.”
The swarty smith spits in his buckthorne fist.
Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals, i.
If a pugilist spits in his hand, his blows will be more telling.--Pliny, Natural History, xxviii. 7.