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splay

 - 3 dictionary results

splay

  [spley]
Use splay in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to spread out, expand, or extend.
2. to form with an oblique angle; make slanting; bevel.
3. to make with a splay or splays.
4. to disjoin; dislocate.
–verb (used without object)
5. to have an oblique or slanting direction.
6. to spread or flare.
–noun
7. Architecture. a surface that makes an oblique angle with another, as where the opening through a wall for a window or door widens from the window or door proper toward the face of the wall.
–adjective
8. spread out; wide and flat; turned outward.
9. clumsy or awkward.
10. oblique or awry.
Origin:
1300–50; ME; aph. form of display
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To splay
splay   (splā)   
adj.  

  1. Spread or turned out.

  2. Clumsy or clumsily formed; awkward.

n.   Architecture
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.
v.   splayed, splay·ing, splays

v.   tr.

  1. To spread (the limbs, for example) out or apart, especially clumsily.

  2. To make slanting or sloping; bevel.

  3. To dislocate (a bone). Used of an animal.

v.   intr.

  1. To be spread out or apart.

  2. To slant or slope.


[From Middle English splayen, to spread out, short for displayen; see display.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

splay  (v.)
"to spread out," c.1330, shortened form of desplayen (see display). Pp. adj. splayed "spread out" is attested from c.1547.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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