I. ˈspad.ə(r), -atə- verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: akin to Frisian spatte, spatterje to spatter, splash, Middle Dutch spatten, Flemish spetteren
transitive verb
1. : to splash with a liquid or with any wet substance : soil by splashing with drops or small portions
spatter the floor with grease
2. : to scatter by splashing : sprinkle around
spatter blood
spatter mud on one's clothes
3. : to cover with or as if with splashes or spots : spot
the bare floor spattered with moonlight — Amy Lowell
green tweed spattered with white silk flecks — New Yorker
mistakes and misrepresentations spattered throughout the whole article — Times Literary Supplement
4. : to injure by aspersion : defame
as an advocate, he must praise the man whom, a year before, he had spattered with ignominy — J.A.Froude
satire … has an awkward way of spattering its author — Listener
intransitive verb
1. : to sputter as if ejecting something distasteful : splutter
2.
a. : to jet or spurt forth in scattered drops
by hitting the ferrule of the brush against the opposite wrist and causing dots of color to spatter upon the setting — H.F.Helvenston
spray from one of the hoses spattered over the longshoremen — Vernon Pizer
b. : to drop or fall with or as if with the sound of heavy drops of rain
earth damp and fragrant from the dew which spatters from the overhanging trees — Tom Marvel
water-stream blows … and spatters into the basin with a light tinkling — Amy Lowell
II. noun
( -s )
1.
a. : the act or process of spattering or the state of being spattered : splashing
b. : spatter dash 2
c. : the noise of spattering
2.
a. : a drop or splash spattered on something : a spot or stain due to spattering
clean mud spatters off clothing
wipe grease spatters off the wall
b. : a small number or quantity : sprinkle
a spatter of rain
a spatter of applause
heavy artillery fire and a spatter of infantry raids — Current History
a continual spatter of musketry fire — Kenneth Roberts
3. West : ruddy duck