Spready

adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A spready hide. dated
  2. 2
    A spreadsheet. informal
Adjective
  1. 1
    Tending to spread horizontally.

    "1602, William Basse, Three Pastoral Elegies of Anander, Anetor, and Muridella, Elegie II, in R. Warwick Bond (editor), The Poetical Works of William Basse, London: Ellis & Elvey, 1893, p. 49, The spready Beech, and dangling Sycomores Were clad in tender leaves and shady shiver,"

  2. 2
    Having a large surface area in proportion to its weight.

    "1912, Hides and Skins: From the Animal’s Back to the Tannery Door, Chicago: Shoe and Leather Weekly, “The Hid and Skin Trade in Great Britain,” p. 132, A fine spready hide is also obtained from the Hereford breed, these being favored by harness and belting makers."

  3. 3
    Having a tendency to spread more easily.

    "These bacteria form large, spready colonies."

Example

More examples

"1602, William Basse, Three Pastoral Elegies of Anander, Anetor, and Muridella, Elegie II, in R. Warwick Bond (editor), The Poetical Works of William Basse, London: Ellis & Elvey, 1893, p. 49, The spready Beech, and dangling Sycomores Were clad in tender leaves and shady shiver,"

Etymology

From spread + -y.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.