spatter /ˈspætɚ/verb 6noun 5forms 3 verb6 •To splash (someone or something) with small droplets.When my wet chihuahua shook himself, I was spattered with smelly water. •To distribute (a liquid) by sprinkling; to sprinkle around.O God, that I were in some wide field With nothing but my battle-axe and him To spatter his brains! — 1877 •To send out small droplets; to splash in small droplets (on or against something).Make sure the pieces of fish are dry before you put them into the hot oil so that it doesn’t spatter. •(figurative) To cover, or lie upon (something) by having been scattered, as if by splashing.[…] she seem’d to have woven the Rainbow into a loose Robe, which being so rarified that she might be seen through it, and also spatter’d with radiant Jewells in the forms of Starrs […] — 1660 •(figurative) To send out or disperse (something) as if in droplets.The cabman spattered his few words of English. — 1922 •(figurative, no longer used) To injure by aspersion; to defame.Let envy spatter what it can, This Embryon will prove a man. — 1647 noun5 •A spray or shower of droplets hitting a surface.As a rough Water-Dog, New-England’s Breed, Fresh plaister’d from some Pond with Mud and Weed, Round from his Fleece the dirty Puddle shakes Rejoicing in the Spatter that he makes: — 1763 •A spot or spots of a substance spattered on a surface.There was what looked like a spatter of blood on one wall. •(figurative) A collection of objects scattered like droplets splashed onto a surface.The attendant had a droopy lower lip, a rust-tone complexion with a spatter of freckles across the cheekbones […] — 1988 •The sound of droplets hitting a surface.As Henry lay awake that first night the hiss and spatter of the rain against his window seemed to have a personal grudge against him. — 1917 •(figurative) A burst or series of sounds resembling the sound of droplets hitting a surface.The rapid handing out of the diplomas brought frequent applause—bits, spatters, volleys, as the case might be. — 1919 formsspattered · spattering · spatters
