splay
to spread out, expand, or extend.
to form with an oblique angle; make slanting; bevel.
to make with a splay or splays.
to disjoin; dislocate.
to have an oblique or slanting direction.
to spread or flare.
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.
spread out; wide and flat; turned outward.
clumsy or awkward.
oblique or awry.
Origin of splay
1Other words from splay
- un·splayed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use splay in a sentence
The realities of racism, poverty, and structural inequality are splayed out before us in ugliness and in the relative uncomfortable calm of the chronic phase it becomes impossible to look away.
Thank You for the 7 PM Clapping, But Camaraderie Is Needed More Than Ever - Facts So Romantic | Ayala Danzig | October 5, 2020 | NautilusReports describe a gruesome scene of “almost unspeakable horror” with “bodies everywhere, organs splayed out.”
Latest News on Malaysian Airliner Reportedly Shot Down Over Ukraine | The Daily Beast | July 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTCrown emerges from the bedroom with a pair of flat black slacks, the cloudy detritus of afterbirth splayed across the seat.
Idaho Woman Who Gave Birth on Highway: ‘I Had to Pull My Pants Down to Get the Baby Out’ | Dale Eisinger | July 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe grisly footage obtained by BFMTV shows the French-speaking fighters arriving at a scene splayed with bodies.
French and Belgian Jihadists Boast About the Syrians They Slaughter | Tracy McNicoll | March 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBlankets, overnight bags, sleeping bags, pillows, iPads, books, and students were splayed throughout the building.
Inside the NYU Refugee Camp for Displaced Students | Kevin Fallon, Abby Haglage | November 1, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
He sees his bare legs splayed out in front of him, and he sees hot brown pitch poured over them, scalding, clinging to his skin.
Why the American Revolution's Loyalists Are True Patriots | Andrew Roberts | February 12, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTThe East ridge of Changtse had no existence for us; we looked across at what presumably were the splayed-out slopes supporting it.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921 | Charles Kenneth Howard-BuryThe heading joints of flooring are often specified to be splayed or bevelled, but it is far better to rebate them.
The Perpendicular clearstorey windows have their rims moulded, but are not splayed.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ripon | Cecil Walter Charles HallettThey are as usual round-headed and plainly splayed, and their sills descend to the string-course in steps.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ripon | Cecil Walter Charles HallettStill holding her eyes with his own, Glavour stepped forward until his huge splayed foot rested on the weapon.
Giants on the Earth | Sterner St. Paul Meek
British Dictionary definitions for splay
/ (spleɪ) /
spread out; broad and flat
turned outwards in an awkward manner
to spread out; turn out or expand
(tr) vet science to dislocate (a joint)
a surface of a wall that forms an oblique angle to the main flat surfaces, esp at a doorway or window opening
enlargement
Origin of splay
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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