spatter - Definitions from Dictionary.com

7 results for: spatter

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

spat·ter

Audio Help [spat-er] Pronunciation Key

–verb (used with object)

1.	to scatter or dash in small particles or drops: The dog spattered mud on everyone when he shook himself.

2.	to splash with something in small particles: to spatter the ground with water.

3.	to sprinkle or spot with something that soils or stains.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to send out small particles or drops, as falling water: rain spattering on a tin roof.

5.	to strike a surface in or as in a shower, as bullets.

–noun

6.	the act or the sound of spattering: the spatter of rain on a roof.

7.	a splash or spot of something spattered.

[Origin: 1575–85; perh. < D spatt(en) to splash + -er⁶; cf. D spatterig lit., spattery

]

—Related forms

spat·ter·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
spatter

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

spat·ter Audio Help   (spāt'ər) Pronunciation Key
v.   spat·tered, spat·ter·ing, spat·ters

v.   tr.

To scatter (a liquid) in drops or small splashes.
To spot, splash, or soil.
To sully the reputation of; defame.

v. intr.

To come forth in drops or small splashes: Hot grease spattered in all directions.
To fall in or as if in a shower, as rain or bullets.

1. The act of spattering.
2. The condition of being spattered.
3. A drop or splash of something spattered.
4. A small amount; a smattering: just a spatter of praise.
A spattering sound.
1. A drop or splash of something spattered.
2. A small amount; a smattering: just a spatter of praise.

[Perhaps of Low German origin.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
spatter

1576 (implied in spattering), possibly a frequentative verb from the stem of Du. or Low Ger. spatten "to spout, burst," of imitative origin.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

spatter
noun
1.	the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively; "he heard a spatter of gunfire"
2.	the act of splashing a (liquid) substance on a surface
verb
1.	dash a liquid upon or against; "The mother splashed the baby's face with water"
2.	rain gently; "It has only sprinkled, but the roads are slick" [syn: sprinkle]
3.	spot, splash, or soil; "The baby spattered the bib with food"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Spatter

Spat"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spattered; p. pr. & vb. n. Spattering.] [From the root of spit salvia.]

1. 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; as, to spatter a coat; to spatter the floor; to spatter boots with mud.

Upon any occasion he is to be spattered over with the blood of his people. --Burke.

2. To distribute by sprinkling; to sprinkle around; as, to spatter blood. --Pope.

3. Fig.: To injure by aspersion; to defame; to soil; also, to throw out in a defamatory manner.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Spatter

Spat"ter\, v. i. To throw something out of the mouth in a scattering manner; to sputter.

That mind must needs be irrecoverably depraved, which, . . . tasting but once of one just deed, spatters at it, and abhors the relish ever after. --Milton.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

spatter

spatter: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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