splay

[ spley ]
See synonyms for splay on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to spread out, expand, or extend.

  2. to form with an oblique angle; make slanting; bevel.

  1. to make with a splay or splays.

  2. to disjoin; dislocate.

verb (used without object)
  1. to have an oblique or slanting direction.

  2. to spread or flare.

noun
  1. 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
  1. spread out; wide and flat; turned outward.

  2. clumsy or awkward.

  1. oblique or awry.

Origin of splay

1
1300–50; Middle English; aphetic form of display

Other words from splay

  • un·splayed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use splay in a sentence

  • That is, his shoe is made to fit the foot, which narrows at the heel, and splays out at the toes.

  • The effect of the windows inside is much enhanced by the lovely quatrefoil ornamentation with which their splays are decorated.

  • These are broken by long, narrow, round-headed openings, vivified by ball moldings ornamenting the heavy rounding of their splays.

    Cathedrals of Spain | John A. (John Allyne) Gade
  • It consists of three recessed arches hooding with deep splays the three doorways which lead into nave and side aisles.

    Cathedrals of Spain | John A. (John Allyne) Gade
  • Anglo-Saxon single-light windows have two splays, increasing in width from the centre of the wall in which the window is placed.

    English Villages | P. H. Ditchfield

British Dictionary definitions for splay

splay

/ (spleɪ) /


adjective
  1. spread out; broad and flat

  2. turned outwards in an awkward manner

verb
  1. to spread out; turn out or expand

  2. (tr) vet science to dislocate (a joint)

noun
  1. a surface of a wall that forms an oblique angle to the main flat surfaces, esp at a doorway or window opening

  2. enlargement

Origin of splay

1
C14: short for display

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012