spreader

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One that spreads, as:
2. n. A butter knife.
3. n. A farm or garden implement for scattering fertilizer or seed.
4. n. A device, such as a bar, for keeping wires or stays apart.
5. n. Nautical A horizontal support used to spread shrouds on a mast.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who or that which spreads, One who or that which expands, outspreads, or spreads abroad. See spread, v. i.
2. n. One who or that which extends, diffuses, disseminates, etc. See spread, v. t.
3. n. In flax-manuf., a machine for drawing and doubling flax from the heckles, and making it into slivers; a drawing-frame.
4. n. In cotton manufacturing, same as lapper, 2.
5. n. A device fitted to the nozle of a hose for causing the stream to spread into a thin fan of spray; a form of spray-nozle.
6. n. A bar, commonly of wood, used to hold two swingletrees apart, and thus form a substitute for a doubletree for a plow, stone-boat, cart, etc.

Wiktionary

1. n. An object or person who spreads.
2. n. A spacer or device for keeping two objects apart.
3. n. A device used to spread bulk material.
4. n. A knife or spatula used to distribute a substance such as butter or jelly.
5. n. nautical A horizontal athwartships spar attached to the mast of a sailboat in order to extend the shrouds away from the mast.
6. n. A machine for combining and drawing fibers of flax to form a sliver preparatory to spinning.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who, or that which, spreads, expands, or propagates.
2. n. A machine for combining and drawing fibers of flax to form a sliver preparatory to spinning.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a hand tool for spreading something
2. n. a mechanical device for scattering something (seed or fertilizer or sand etc.) in all directions