Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Water or other liquid moving in a mass of dispersed droplets, as from a wave.
- n. A fine jet of liquid discharged from a pressurized container.
- n. A pressurized container; an atomizer.
- n. Any of numerous commercial products, including paints, cosmetics, and insecticides, that are dispensed from containers in this manner.
- v. To disperse (a liquid) in a mass or jet of droplets.
- v. To apply a spray to (a surface).
- v. To discharge sprays of liquid.
- v. To move in the form of spray.
- n. A small branch bearing buds, flowers, or berries.
- n. Something, such as a decorative motif, that resembles such a branch.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A branch of a tree with its branchlets, especially when slender and graceful; also, twigs, or such branches collectively; a stem of flowers or leaves; a sprig.
- n. An orchard; a grove.
- n. A binding-stick for thatching.
- n. Any ornament, pattern, or design in the form of branch or sprig: as, a spray of diamonds; an embroidered spray.
- n. Water flying in small drops or particles, as by the force of wind, or the dashing of waves, or from a waterfall; water or other liquid broken up into small particles and driven (as by an atomizer) along by a current of air or other gas. Winds raise some of the salt with the spray.
- To throw in the form of spray; let fall as spray; scatter in minute drops or particles.
- To sprinkle with fine drops; dampen by means of spray, as of perfume, or of some adhesive liquid used to preserve drawings and the like.
- To discharge or scatter a liquid in the form of spray: as, the instrument will either spout or spray.
- n. A set of castings fed from a common runner, to which they are still attached by the smaller channels or sprues, and resembling a branch with twigs and leaves.
- To protect (cultivated plants) from insect enemies and vegetable parasites by covering them with a spray which has a toxic effect, upon the animal or vegetable organisms.
Wiktionary
- n. A fine, gentle, disperse mist of liquid.
- n. A small branch of flowers or berries.
- n. A pressurized container; an atomizer.
- n. Any of numerous commercial products, including paints, cosmetics, and insecticides, that are dispensed from containers in this manner.
- v. To project a liquid in a dispersive manner.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A small shoot or branch; a twig.
- n. A collective body of small branches, or cut flowers with long stems.
- n. A side channel or branch of the runner of a flask, made to distribute the metal in all parts of the mold.
- n. A group of castings made in the same mold and connected by sprues formed in the runner and its branches.
- n. Water flying in small drops or particles, as by the force of wind, or the dashing of waves, or from a waterfall, and the like.
- n. A jet of fine medicated vapor, used either as an application to a diseased part or to charge the air of a room with a disinfectant or a deodorizer.
- n. An instrument for applying such a spray; an atomizer.
- v. Poetic To let fall in the form of spray.
- v. To throw spray upon; to treat with a liquid in the form of spray.
WordNet 3.0
- v. cover by spraying with a liquid
- v. be discharged in sprays of liquid
- n. a jet of vapor
- n. water in small drops in the atmosphere; blown from waves or thrown up by a waterfall
- n. a pesticide in suspension or solution; intended for spraying
- n. a dispenser that turns a liquid (such as perfume) into a fine mist
- n. a quantity of small objects flying through the air
- n. flower arrangement consisting of a single branch or shoot bearing flowers and foliage
- v. scatter in a mass or jet of droplets
Etymologies
- From obsolete spray, to sprinkle, from Middle Dutch sprayen.Middle English, from Old English *spræg. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Bear pepper spray is a highly concentrated capsaicin spray that creates a large cloud.”
“You may see them sit down together, sort of a brief -- what we call a spray, you go in and just take a quick picture and get out.”
“A few years ago, our school had a parent write a racist remark on his garage in spray paint and called the local paper who published a picture of it and the man's biracial son trying to spin the article as if students and the school were harrasing his son.”
“Things may be going fine when you're suddenly blinded by a passing car, truck or bus that covers your windshield in spray or kicks up gallons from a puddle.”
The Washington Post: Dr. Gridlock: Tips for afternoon driving
“I have found that Raid brand insect spray is very effective at controlling them.”
“Many products are available in spray-pump, aerosol or twist-off cap containers.”
“Although the influenza shot (either seasonal or H1N1) and not the nasal spray is recommended for pregnant women, there is no danger associated with being around others who have received the nasal vaccine.”
“A mural on Avenue C at 6th Street celebrating President Barack Obama's election includes Pastoressa's signature in spray paint below Garcia's, and an online video appears to show the two working on another piece.”
The Huffington Post: East Village Resident Arrested in Stabbing Death of 21-Year-Old Man
“You can find coyote-urine granules, as well as fox urine and bobcat urine (in spray or liquid form), on Amazon. com.”
“We did some checking around and it looks like alcohol-based hair spray is key, and the hairspray trick works better on polyester blends.”
Use Hairspray To Remove Ink From Fabric In A Pinch | Lifehacker Australia
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spray’.
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gangster
random gangster lingo and street slang with extra absurdities.
( open list, randomness )
related:
http://www....swagga, chinga, slams, blitzy, earf, manor, code name, rekkid, weight, feather, kong, swisher and 323 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
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Written on Water
An eclectic list of words pertaining to and describing water.
"...I am the faithful husband of the rain,
I love the water of wells and springs
and the taste of roofs in the...water, rain, cistern, thirst, dead-water, eddy-water, surge, flood, ebb, fluid, flow, liquor amnii and 202 more...
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Rainy weather report.
Today's weather.
is it rain, sprinkles, showers, sleet, or drizzle?
Are those drops, droplets?
Is the weatherman just using the word precipitation?
Is the scientist causing ...rain, sprinkle, droplets, shower, precipitation, freezing rain, drops, drizzle, sleet, thundershower, mist, pour and 126 more...
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Nigerian English
This list was inspired by this article. Any Nigerians out there care to add to it?
chop house, felicitate, jubilate, cutlass, waterloo, tout, urchin, gripe water, vulcanizer, miscreant, can of worms, sorry-o and 121 more...
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Costa Vida
The Costal Life
surf, carve, tubular, rip curl, curl, froth, floater, tweak, wafting, off the wall, pocket, rad and 39 more...
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Water Verbs
deluge, pour, leak, flood, flow, gush, flush, drizzle, rain, spill, drop, spout and 15 more...
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strangelyrouge's Words
glockenspiel, gewgaw, jetsam, flotsam, gripe, grab, wench, whilst, betwixt, hither, thither, yonder and 1034 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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hilton head
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april showers
it never rains but it:
rain, shower, drizzle, drip, pour, sprinkle, trickle, sleet, hail, snow, blizzard, precipitate and 33 more...
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Wet Words
fluid, ocean, stream, river, puddle, trickle, icicle, drip, weep, moist, humidity, soggy and 18 more...
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Korniko's Words
quixotic, existential, archaic, black, cheap, laser, jungle, tropical, listed, festive, survey, blind and 87 more...
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beachcombing
seashell, anemone, aquamarine, sand dollar, kelp, tide, ebb, lighthouse, quay, parasol, harbor, pacific and 27 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for spray.

lanklenmot A small branch bearing buds, flowers, or berries. Feb 4, 2009
bilby Nigerian English - giving of monetary gifts to dancers and musicians at a party. The bank notes are usually placed on the foreheads of the recipients. Sep 17, 2008