spat

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The cause of the spat is the demand of multiplexes to have more than 50 percent of the revenue.

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Definitions (39)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (11)

  1. verb A past tense and a past participle of spit1.
  2. noun An oyster or similar bivalve mollusk in the larval stage, especially when it settles to the bottom and begins to develop a shell.
  3. noun The spawn of an oyster or a similar mollusk.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (7)

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Examples (50)

  • Could you tell us what the argument was about I do recall a spat," said Neubauer with a shrug, "but I don't remember it as being particularly serious. —  The Beach House
  • GOP Chairman Steele calls his spat with Rush Limbaugh a 'sideshow distraction' —  StarTribune.com rss feed
  • "Tarleton's quarter!" the rebels spat, and promised to return the same. —  Conservapedia - Recent changes [en]
  • "The cultural rift in America that year makes today's red state / blue state divide look rather like a petty marital spat, and Sirhan Sirhan's shooting of Kennedy, coming a scant two months after King's death, pushed everything into near-apocalyptic territory," writes Glenn Kenny. —  GreenCine Daily
  • Big industrial players have been the first victims of the gas spat, and some have stopped activities. —  IPS Inter Press Service
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This word has been looked up 113 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

gaiter ·  neckcloth ·  eye-glass ·  frock-coat ·  tiff ·  necktie ·  raincoat ·  bowler ·  leggings ·  hosiery ·  waistcoat ·  undershirt

Used in the same contextWord Family

spat:   Spat ·  spit ·  spitting ·  spits
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (8)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English.
  2. Short for spatterdash : spatter + dash1.
  3. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (5)

  1. A variant of spot, prob. in part from Dutch spatten, spot: see spot. Cf. spatter.
  2. Prob., like the similar D. spat, a speck, spot, = Swedish spott, spittle, etc. (see spot), from the root of spit (cf. spat): see spit.
  3. from spat, n.
  4. In the sense ‘blow’ (def. 1), cf. spot; in part prob. imitative, like pat.
  5. Also spatt; usually or only in plural spats, spatts; abbreviation of spatterdashes.
 

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/spæt/
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