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splat1

[splat]
noun
  1. Also splad. a broad, flat piece of wood, either pierced or solid, forming the center upright part of a chair back or the like.
  2. a batten for covering joints between sheets of wallboard; panel strip.
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Origin of splat1

1825–35; origin uncertain; compare Old English splātan to split

splat2

[splat]
noun
  1. a sound made by splattering or slapping.
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Origin of splat2

First recorded in 1895–1900; back formation from splatter
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for splat

Historical Examples

  • The splat, with its varying forms, denotes the date of the chair.

    Chats on Cottage and Farmhouse Furniture

    Arthur Hayden

  • The stretchers across the two legs are half way up and are the Yorkshire form of splat stretcher.

  • Exhibiting florid turning and Yorkshire type of splat stretchers.

  • With sunk seat for squab cushion, turned uprights and legs and curious back, showing transition from lath back to splat back.

  • It was therefore natural that in the farmhouse examples the plain Dutch splat would readily find favour as more easily executed.

British Dictionary definitions for splat

splat1

noun
  1. a wet slapping sound
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Word Origin

C19: of imitative origin

splat2

noun
  1. a wide flat piece of wood, esp one that is the upright central part of a chair back
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Word Origin

C19: perhaps related to Old English splātan to split
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 splat

v.

"to land with a smacking sound," 1897, probably of imitative origin.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper