Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To scatter (a liquid, for example) in drops or small amounts.
- intransitive verb To spot, splash, or soil with drops or small amounts.
- intransitive verb To strike or land on in a dispersed way.
- intransitive verb To come forth in drops or small amounts.
- intransitive verb To fall in a shower or make contact in a dispersed way, as rain or bullets.
- noun The act or an instance of spattering.
- noun A spattering sound.
- noun A drop or splash of something spattered.
- noun A small amount; a smattering.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To scatter or throw about carelessly, as some fluid or semi-fluid substance; dash or splash so as to fall in spreading drops or small quantities: as, to
spatter water or mud over a person; to spatter oaths or calumnies. - To dash or splash upon; bespatter, literally or figuratively: as, to
spatter a person with water, mud, or slander. - To sputter; act or talk in a sputtering manner.
- To undergo or cause scattering or splashing in drops or small quantities.
- noun The act of spattering, or the state of being spattered; a spattering or splashing effect.
- noun A quick succession of not very loud sounds, such as is produced by the spattering of some substance.
- noun That which is spattered; a small splash, as of something thrown or falling in drops: as, a spatter of milk, ink, or mud on one's clothes.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To throw something out of the mouth in a scattering manner; to sputter.
- transitive verb To sprinkle with a liquid or with any wet substance, as water, mud, or the like; to make wet of foul spots upon by sprinkling.
- transitive verb To distribute by sprinkling; to sprinkle around.
- transitive verb Fig.: To injure by aspersion; to defame; to soil; also, to throw out in a defamatory manner.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
splash with smalldroplets .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb spot, splash, or soil
- noun the act of splashing a (liquid) substance on a surface
- noun the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively
- verb dash a liquid upon or against
- verb rain gently
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Auditor Karen Flynn, Prosecutor Russ Hauge, and Commissioner Chris Endresen would be well advised to keep their distance to avoid spatter from the lawsuit and Canvassing Board hearing.
Sound Politics: Residency Lawsuit Against Kitsap Commissioner Josh Brown Moves Forward 2007
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A job well done, he thought, and watched the rain spatter the spongy rubber cobbles of the midway.
Boing Boing: February 26, 2006 - March 4, 2006 Archives 2006
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You know, you just reminded me of a case I had where a woman allegedly committed suicide, but there were blood spatter, there was blood spatter, which is from the impact of the gun, under her pillow.
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Some makers still bolster these paints with components like formaldehyde, crystalline silica, acetone and ammonia to help preserve the paint or give it other properties, such as spatter-resistance.
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Chittenden's who allowed his mind to wander, and did not concentrate, promptly made the acquaintance of the "spatter," a broad leathern strap; and the spatter hurt exceedingly, as I can testify from many personal experiences of it.
The Days Before Yesterday Frederick Spencer Hamilton 1892
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"Plosh!" went Mr Jones right in backwards; and "spatter" went the foul mud all over his face and shirt-front, and then the poor little man tried to scramble out, but slipped in again, making himself worse than ever; but his next effort was more successful; and when Sam saw him standing amongst the potatoes looking all piebald, his heart was joyful within him, as he hurried home to tell the boys the success of their plot.
Hollowdell Grange Holiday Hours in a Country Home George Manville Fenn 1870
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In that context, I found phrases like these kind of disconcerting and hard to read: the passions of his bewildered heart … a maelstrom of melancholicaly erupted emotion … causing a bit of the guilt to spatter through his brow … that would never permit his repression, never allow for nothing short of predetermined apocalyptic salvation.
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Frank Murdock’s Review Forum 2009
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“Damn you to hell!” he grunted as he clenched his fist tight causing a bit of the guilt to spatter upon his brow.
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Frank Murdock’s Review Forum 2009
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In that context, I found phrases like these kind of disconcerting and hard to read: the passions of his bewildered heart … a maelstrom of melancholicaly erupted emotion … causing a bit of the guilt to spatter through his brow … that would never permit his repression, never allow for nothing short of predetermined apocalyptic salvation.
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Frank Murdock’s Review Forum 2009
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You are not very good at what you do, and I will enjoy your rebuttle of obnoxious spatter that you send my way.
yarb commented on the word spatter
... They had
no need to slaughter the beast - spattered gore
stained Zygmunt's forearms a fortnight.
- Peter Reading, Zygmunt, from Nothing for Anyone, 1977
June 26, 2008