spray

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“
Above the spray is a parrot in needlepoint, most of him fastened down round the edges, but his wings and tail left free.

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Definitions (35)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (10)

  1. noun Water or other liquid moving in a mass of dispersed droplets, as from a wave.
  2. noun A fine jet of liquid discharged from a pressurized container.
  3. noun A pressurized container; an atomizer.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (13)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (9)

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Examples (50)

  • Sue sprayed the wall with oil.But really got me thinking on the way home was that it occurred to me that there is another transitive 'spray' -- interestingly, where the subject isn't agentive at all.
  • Though the air tasted of sea-spray, his mouth was dry with smoke and desire. —  FSFMagazine,August2007
  • They say Wade was carrying pepper spray, which is illegal because he's a convicted felon.
  • The website is pretty cheesy looking, and the spray is a whopping $29.99 for a can, but they claim to have proof that it works from Fox News, Dutch TV, the Denver police, CBS News, and others. —  Alice Hill's Real Tech News - Independent Tech
  • Regarding the use of pepper spray, Mr. Browne said the video made it clear that the spray was, indeed, used. —  legitgov
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This word has been looked up 101 times.

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Related

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

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

rain ·  mist ·  shower ·  foam ·  smoke ·  smell ·  steam ·  patch ·  wave ·  snow ·  wreath ·  gas

Used in the same contextWord Family

spray:   spraying ·  sprays ·  sprayed
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 (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. From obsolete spray, to sprinkle, from Middle Dutch sprayen.
  2. Middle English, from Old English *spræg.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English spray, spraye, from Swedish dial. spragg, spragge = Danish sprag, a sprig, a spray: see sprag, a doublet of spray, and cf. sprig. Cf. Lithuanian sproga, a spray of a tree, also a rift, sprogti, split, sprout, bud; Greek ασπάραγος, asparagus, perhaps orig. ‘sprout.’
  2. Not found in Middle English or Anglo-Saxon; the alleged *sprēgan, in Anglo-Saxon *geond-sprēgan, pour out, is apparently an error for sprengan, cause to spring: see spreng, spring. The Icelandic spræna, jet, spurt out, Norwegian spræn, a jet of water, are not related. Cf. Dutch spreijen (Sewel), for spreiden, = Low German spreen, spreien, for spreden, = English spread: see spread.
  3. Cf. spray, n.
 

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/sprei/
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