spatter

[spat-er]

verb (used with object)

to scatter or dash in small particles or drops: The dog spattered mud on everyone when he shook himself.
to splash with something in small particles: to spatter the ground with water.
to sprinkle or spot with something that soils or stains.

verb (used without object)

to send out small particles or drops, as falling water: rain spattering on a tin roof.
to strike a surface in or as in a shower, as bullets.

noun

the act or the sound of spattering: the spatter of rain on a roof.
a splash or spot of something spattered.

Origin of spatter

1575–85; perhaps < Dutch spatt(en) to splash + -er⁶; compare Dutch spatterig literally, spattery

Related formsspat·ter·ing·ly, adverbun·spat·tered, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for spattered

daub, smudge, speckle, mottle, stipple, speck, spangle, dash, disperse, strew, slop, douse, soil, sputter, splutter, wet, spot, broadcast, spray, discharge

Examples from the Web for spattered

Historical Examples of spattered

And that he done it with an apron on to kape from gettin' burnt and spattered?
The Widow O'Callaghan's Boys
Gulielma Zollinger
Everybody knew it, because it was daubed and spattered with paint.
Winning His Way
Charles Carleton Coffin
They spattered into the waters all around him, but wide of their mark.
A Prisoner of Morro
Upton Sinclair
Some of them spattered the ends of their noses with black chocolate.
Rootabaga Stories
Carl Sandburg
You do not wish to see me spattered over the beautiful isle?
The Place of Honeymoons
Harold MacGrath

British Dictionary definitions for spattered

spatter

verb

to scatter or splash (a substance, esp a liquid) or (of a substance) to splash (something) in scattered dropsto spatter mud on the car; mud spattered in her face
(tr) to sprinkle, cover, or spot (with a liquid)
(tr) to slander or defame
(intr) to shower or rain downbullets spattered around them

noun

the sound of something spattering
something spattered, such as a spot or splash
the act or an instance of spattering

Word Origin for spatter

C16: of imitative origin; related to Low German, Dutch spatten to spout, Frisian spatteren to splash

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

Word Origin and History for spattered

spatter

1570s (implied in spattering), possibly a frequentative verb from the stem of Dutch or Low German spatten "to spout, burst," of imitative origin. Related: Spattered.