Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Spread or turned out.
- adjective Clumsy or clumsily formed; awkward.
- noun An oblique angle or bevel given to the sides of an opening in a wall so that the opening is wider on one side of the wall than on the other.
- intransitive verb To spread (the limbs, for example) out or apart, especially clumsily.
- intransitive verb To make slanting or sloping; bevel.
- intransitive verb To dislocate (a bone). Used of an animal.
- intransitive verb To be spread out or apart.
- intransitive verb To slant or slope.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Same as
spay . - To display; unfold; spread out; hence, to cut up; carve: as, to
splay a fish. - To dislocate, as a horse's shoulder.
- In architecture, to slope; form with an oblique angle, as the jambs or sides of a window. See the noun.
- In cooperage, to form (a barrel) by drawing it together at the ends.
- Spread or spreading out; wide and flat; turned outward; hence, clumsy; awkward. See splay-foot, splay-mouth.
- noun Spread; flare.
- noun In architecture, a sloped surface, or a surface which makes an oblique angle with another, as when the opening through a wall for a door or window widens from the position of the door or window proper toward the face of the wall. A large chamfer is called a splay.
- noun In fortification, the outward widening of an embrasure from the mouth toward the exterior of the parapet. See
embrasure .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Displayed; spread out; turned outward; hence, flat; ungainly.
- transitive verb obsolete To display; to spread.
- transitive verb To dislocate, as a shoulder bone.
- transitive verb Obs. or Prov. Eng. To spay; to castrate.
- transitive verb To turn on one side; to render oblique; to slope or slant, as the side of a door, window, etc.
- adjective (Arch.) A slope or bevel, especially of the sides of a door or window, by which the opening is made larged at one face of the wall than at the other, or larger at each of the faces than it is between them.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To display; to spread.
- verb To dislocate, as a shoulder bone.
- verb To spay; to castrate.
- verb To turn on one side; to render oblique; to slope or slant, as the side of a door, window, etc.
- adjective Displayed; spread out; turned outward; hence, flat; ungainly; as, splay shoulders.
- noun A slope or
bevel , especially of the sides of a door or window, by which the opening is made larger at one face of the wall than at the other, or larger at each of the faces than it is between them.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb spread open or apart
- noun an outward bevel around a door or window that makes it seem larger
- verb turn outward
- adjective turned outward in an ungainly manner
- verb move out of position
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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They have relatively stiff steel nibs, which are harder to "splay", and well-designed grips.
Loosen Up Your Writing Grip To Banish Pain | Lifehacker Australia 2009
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They have relatively stiff steel nibs, which are harder to "splay", and well-designed grips.
Loosen Up Your Writing Grip To Banish Pain | Lifehacker Australia 2009
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Magazine, _ classed _nominatim_ by an emphatic earnest man, not without a kind of splay-footed strength and sincerity, -- among the chief Heresiarchs of the -- world?
The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I Thomas Carlyle 1838
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Eddie Bernard, director of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Washington, says one possibility is that the earthquake might not have been confined to the main fault, with additional seabed shaking coming from a 'splay' fault.
Scientific American 2010
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Right before they hit, they kind of splay out into this starburst pattern.
chicagotribune.com - 2009
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( "splay" them out, side to side, then shape them up and down after that).
Planet Haskell 2008
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Had you the happiness to see yourself not long ago, in Fraser's Magazine, classed nominatim by an emphatic earnest man, not without a kind of splay-footed strength and sincerity, ” among the chief Heresiarchs of the ” world?
The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I Carlyle, Thomas 1883
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Put it on in the background as you work or play, drink or splay, and watch as it works like confident fingers deep into your pleasure center.
Mark Morford: The Top 10 Most Awesome Albums of 2011 Mark Morford 2011
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Put it on in the background as you work or play, drink or splay, and watch as it works like confident fingers deep into your pleasure center.
Mark Morford: The Top 10 Most Awesome Albums of 2011 Mark Morford 2011
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In the midst were the deep impressions of the splay-hoofed game, and all about, everywhere, were the lighter footmarks of the wolves.
THE LAW OF LIFE 2010
minerva commented on the word splay
I arose, the man hemming up for a speech, rising and beginning to set his splay feet...
October 9, 2007
seanahan commented on the word splay
Also a type of tree, which I remember fondly.
October 9, 2007