spattered


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spat·ter

 (spăt′ər)
v. spat·tered, spat·ter·ing, spat·ters
v.tr.
1. To scatter (a liquid, for example) in drops or small amounts: spattered the paint on the canvas.
2. To spot, splash, or soil with drops or small amounts: The passing car spattered my pants with mud.
3. To strike or land on in a dispersed way: Rain spattered the pavement.
v.intr.
1. To come forth in drops or small amounts: Hot grease spattered in all directions.
2. To fall in a shower or make contact in a dispersed way, as rain or bullets.
n.
1. The act or an instance of spattering: a spatter of mud on his pants.
2. A spattering sound: awakened by the spatter of rain on the window.
3.
a. A drop or splash of something spattered: spatters of paint on his shoes.
b. A small amount; a smattering: just a spatter of praise.

[Perhaps of Low German origin.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.spattered - covered with bright patches (often used in combination); "waves dabbled with moonlight"; "a blood-spattered room"; "gardens splashed with color"; "kitchen walls splattered with grease"
covered - overlaid or spread or topped with or enclosed within something; sometimes used as a combining form; "women with covered faces"; "covered wagons"; "a covered balcony"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
On the morning before the election, Jerry was putting me into the shafts, when Dolly came into the yard sobbing and crying, with her little blue frock and white pinafore spattered all over with mud.
He noted the extreme care which the woman took that none of the matter should touch her hands, and once when a particle spattered upon one of her fingers he saw her plunge the member into a vessel of water and quickly rub the tiny stain away with a handful of leaves.
Patches of dry dust between the wheelways were pitted and spattered as with a red rain.
The lightning spattered the sky as a thrown egg spattered a barn door, but the light was pale blue, not yellow; and looking through my slit bamboo blinds, I could see the great dog standing, not sleeping, in the veranda, the hackles alift on her back, and her feet planted as tensely as the drawn wire rope of a suspension bridge.
For a long time they continued to look at red Rugay who, his arched back spattered with mud and clanking the ring of his leash, walked along just behind "Uncle's" horse with the serene air of a conqueror.
The post boy has come "with spattered boots, strapped waist, and frozen locks." He has brought letters and the newspaper--
So tense was he, so bent upon the work he had to do, that the sweat stung his eyes unwiped, and unheeded rolled down his nose and spattered his saddle pommel.
The old Welshman came home toward daylight, spattered with candle-grease, smeared with clay, and almost worn out.
A Filipina employee died after her legs were spattered with hydrofluoric acid during work at a factory in Miaoli County, the Central News Agency reported Thursday (August 29).
The graphic images show walls, carpets, furniture, door frames and bed linen spattered with the Limerick man's blood.