splay
Americanverb (used with object)
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to spread out, expand, or extend.
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to form with an oblique angle; make slanting; bevel.
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to make with a splay or splays.
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to disjoin; dislocate.
verb (used without object)
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to have an oblique or slanting direction.
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to spread or flare.
noun
adjective
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spread out; wide and flat; turned outward.
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clumsy or awkward.
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oblique or awry.
adjective
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spread out; broad and flat
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turned outwards in an awkward manner
verb
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to spread out; turn out or expand
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(tr) vet science to dislocate (a joint)
noun
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a surface of a wall that forms an oblique angle to the main flat surfaces, esp at a doorway or window opening
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enlargement
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of splay
1300–50; Middle English; aphetic form of display
Explanation
To splay is to spread out or widen. Peacocks splay their feathers when they want to show off. Basketball players splay their fingers around a basketball to get a better grip. The word splay is often seen as splayed. If you collapse on your bed with your arms and legs stretched out, you are splayed out on the bed. Fingers, toes, arms, and legs can all splay. Something that has a splayed shape is called a splay, like an architectural detail around a window or door. Splay comes from the verb display, originally "unfurl, unfold, or spread out."
Vocabulary lists containing splay
The Hobbit
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One of Us Is Lying
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"The Ravine" by Graham Salisbury
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her legs splay, tilt and leap readily into pratfall action.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 16, 2024
"The island is kind of stuck in the middle of these splay faults, so anytime these splay faults rupture, it's actually recording the uplift," DePaolis said.
From Science Daily • May 20, 2024
Too many such cells caused the sepals to splay and expose the petals prematurely.
From Science Magazine • Aug. 23, 2023
Branches splay out widely and become roosting places for choirs of myna birds.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 10, 2023
Richard Smaltrot is he with the short step, and not Richard Crowfoot, whose feet splay out like fans.”
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
