SCATTERING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Scattering

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/skˈætərɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Scatter v. t. (past & past part. scattered; pres. part. scattering)

To strew about; to sprinkle around; to throw down loosely; to deposit or place here and there, esp. in an open or sparse order. "And some are scattered all the floor about." "Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?" "Teach the glad hours to scatter, as they fly, Soft quiet, gentle love, and endless joy."

To cause to separate in different directions; to reduce from a close or compact to a loose or broken order; to dissipate; to disperse. "Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths."

Hence, to frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow; as, to scatter hopes, plans, or the like.

Synonyms: To disperse; dissipate; spread; strew.

Scatter v. i. To be dispersed or dissipated; to disperse or separate; as, clouds scatter after a storm.

noun

Scattering n. Act of strewing about; something scattered.

adjective

Scattering adj. Going or falling in various directions; not united or aggregated; divided among many; as, scattering votes.

See images of 'Scattering'

Etymology of 'Scattering'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scattering" Quotes from Famous Books

... lifts them pleasantly as it rolls under. But the smashing force of the wave is where it curls and breaks, and it is there that the ladies wait for it. It is these breakers in a gale that tear to pieces and destroy the best-built ships once they touch the shore, scattering their timbers as the wind scatters leaves. The courage and the endurance women must possess to face ...

— The Open Air • Richard Jefferies

... by the captain of the English team as they rode back to the center of the field, and when the ball was in play again there was no more of the scattering open play that suited the other side, but a close, short-hitting, chop-and-follow method that tried ponies' tempers, and a scrimmage every ten yards that made all unavailing the Rajputs' speed and dash. Whenever ...

— Guns of the Gods • Talbot Mundy

... into twilight the heavy firing ceased, although there were scattering shots during the night. Two of our men were wounded in this second attack, and were brought into the rifle pit. Bill Tyler was killed instantly, and they buried him, Silas Dunlap, and the Castleton baby, in the ...

— The Jacket (The Star-Rover) • Jack London

... Aleppo, galloping over the plain. They were soon recognised as the cavalry of the Pasha, the irregular heralds, it was presumed, of a triumph achieved. Hillel Besso, covered with sweat and dust, was among those who thus early arrived. He hastened at a rapid pace through the suburb of the city, scattering random phrases to those who inquired after intelligence as he passed, until he reached the ...

— Tancred - Or, The New Crusade • Benjamin Disraeli

... did not stand for an instant, when she saw what I was like. At the risk of all thick bandages, and upsetting a dozen medicine bottles, and scattering leeches right and left, she managed to get into my arms, although they could not hold her. She laid her panting warm young breast on the place where they meant to bleed me, and she set my pale face up; and she would not look at me, having greater ...

— Lorna Doone - A Romance of Exmoor • R. D. Blackmore

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