Scatter
['skætə] or ['skætɚ]
Definition
(noun.) the act of scattering.
(noun.) a haphazard distribution in all directions.
(verb.) distribute loosely; 'He scattered gun powder under the wagon'.
(verb.) sow by scattering; 'scatter seeds'.
Typed by Gordon--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To strew about; to sprinkle around; to throw down loosely; to deposit or place here and there, esp. in an open or sparse order.
(v. t.) To cause to separate in different directions; to reduce from a close or compact to a loose or broken order; to dissipate; to disperse.
(v. t.) Hence, to frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow; as, to scatter hopes, plans, or the like.
(v. i.) To be dispersed or dissipated; to disperse or separate; as, clouds scatter after a storm.
Edited by Caleb
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Strew, sprinkle, throw about loosely.[2]. Dissipate, disperse, diffuse, distribute, spread.
Editor: Rebekah
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Strew, sprinkle, disperse, spread, broadcast, dissipate, disseminate,propagate, squander
ANT:Collect, accumulate, heap, gather, save, husband
Edited by Debra
Definition
v.t. to disperse in all directions: to throw loosely about: to strew: to sprinkle: to dispel: to put to flight: to drop: to throw shot too loosely.—v.i. to be dispersed or dissipated.—n. Scatt′erbrain a thoughtless giddy person.—adjs. Scatt′er-brained giddy; Scatt′ered widely separated: wandering: distracted: irregular.—ns. Scatt′erer one who or that which scatters; Scatt′er-good a spendthrift; Scatt′er-gun a shot-gun; Scatt′ering something scattered: dispersion: that which has been scattered: the irregular reflection of light from a surface not perfectly smooth.—adj. dispersing: rare sporadic: diversified.—adv. Scatt′eringly in a dispersed manner: here and there.—ns. Scatt′erling (Spens.) one who has no fixed abode: a vagabond; Scatt′ermouch any Latin or Levantine in Pacific slang.—adj. Scatt′ery dispersed: sparse: few and far between.
Checked by Evan
Examples
- Only then are they like now, and with four of these you can make them scatter. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- The field thus sown on the basement story, I ran lightly upstairs to scatter my mercies next over the drawing-room floor. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- They could plough lanes in infantry, but they could not easily smash and scatter it if it was sturdy and well drilled. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The last three types, called concave lenses, scatter parallel rays so that they do not come to a focus, but diverge widely after passage through the lens. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- I don't lock up my drawer, Mr. Hartright, he said, and I don't say that I may not scatter your brains about the fireplace yet. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Or do they employ these your darling manufacturers, and so scatter it again all over the nation? Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- A cold silvery mist had veiled the afternoon, and the moon was not yet up to scatter it. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- He must have been one of a patrol scattered out in these hills. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- The twelve precious publications which I had scattered through the house, on the previous day; all returned to me by the doctor's orders! Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Each estrada includes about one hundred of the scattered Heveas. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Scattered over the country one still finds isolated charcoal kilns, crude earthen receptacles, in which wood thus deprived of air was allowed to smolder and form charcoal. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Iron filings scattered over a magnet arrange themselves in definite lines. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- From the angle of statecraft the future of the movement may be said to depend upon the wise use of this raw and scattered power. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- A whole village-full of sensuous emotion, scattered abroad all the year long, surged here in a focus for an hour. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- She runs to the pantry for a roll, and she stands on the door step scattering crumbs. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- There was a movement behind her, a scattering of steps and voices: it was evident that the party about the tea-table was breaking up. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- The earth as the home of man is humanizing and unified; the earth viewed as a miscellany of facts is scattering and imaginatively inert. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The clear, cold sunshine glances into the brittle woods and approvingly beholds the sharp wind scattering the leaves and drying the moss. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Just as they were a few yards from the shore, the rocket flashed skyward with a sharp whizz, scattering trains of sparks in its ascent. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I am thinking, he remarked quietly, whether I shall add to the disorder in this room by scattering your brains about the fireplace. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Even the scattering groups of armed shepherds we met the afternoon before, tending their flocks of long-haired goats, were wanting here. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- The surface of the paper, although smooth in appearance, is in reality rough, and scatters the light in every direction. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- The surface of the paper or photograph is rough, and as a result, it scatters the beam in every direction. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- We will not perish unrevenged--and mighty will our avenger be, when he descends in visible majesty, and scatters destruction among you. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
Typed by Lloyd