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Sputter

//ˈspʌtɚ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun

1
Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles. countable, uncountable
2
an utterance (of words) with spitting sounds (as in rage) wordnet
3
Confused and hasty speech. countable, uncountable
4
the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively wordnet

Verb

1
To emit saliva or spit from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking. intransitive
"The child [...] kicked, and crowed, and sputtered, when his mother took him, and put up his little fingers to clutch her hair, and was to her as a young god upon the earth. Nothing in the world had ever been created so beautiful, so joyous, so satisfactory, so divine!"
2
spit up in an explosive manner wordnet
3
To speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly, with a spluttering sound, as in rage. ambitransitive
"They could neither of them speak their rage, and so fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting apples."
4
cause to undergo a process in which atoms are removed wordnet
5
To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a noise like that made by one sputtering. ambitransitive
"Like the green wood [...] sputtering in the flame."

Show 5 more definitions

6
utter with a spitting sound, as if in a rage wordnet
7
To cause surface atoms or electrons of a solid to be ejected by bombarding it with heavy atoms or ions. intransitive
8
climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling wordnet
9
To coat the surface of an object by sputtering. transitive
10
make an explosive sound wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

Probably representing Middle English *sputren, *sputrien, a frequentative form of Middle English sputen (“to spout, vomit”), equivalent to spout + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian spüttern (“to inject, spray, splash”), West Frisian sputterje (“to sputter”), Dutch sputteren (“to sputter”), Low German sputtern, spruttern (“to sprinkle”), German sprudeln (“to spout, squirt”). Compare splutter.

Etymology 2

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