Scattering
['skætərɪŋ]
Definition
(noun.) a light shower that falls in some locations and not others nearby.
(noun.) the physical process in which particles are deflected haphazardly as a result of collisions.
(noun.) a small number (of something) dispersed haphazardly; 'the first scatterings of green'; 'a sprinkling of grey at his temples'.
Checker: Melva--From WordNet
Definition
(p. pr. & vb. n.) of Scatter
(a.) Going or falling in various directions; not united or aggregated; divided among many; as, scattering votes.
(n.) Act of strewing about; something scattered.
Inputed by Hannibal
Examples
- 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.
- It is these tiny drops which by their refraction and their scattering of light produce the rainbow in the heavens. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
Checker: McDonald