sputter
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English[edit]
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Etymology[edit]
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.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈspʌtɚ/
- Rhymes: -ʌtə(ɹ)
Audio (UK) (file)
Noun[edit]
sputter (countable and uncountable, plural sputters)
Verb[edit]
sputter (third-person singular simple present sputters, present participle sputtering, simple past and past participle sputtered)
- (intransitive) To emit saliva or spit from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking.
- 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Lady Milborough as Ambassador”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], OCLC 1118026626, page 87:
- 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!
- (transitive, intransitive) To speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly, with a spluttering sound, as in rage.
- 1700, William Congreve, s:The Way of the World
- They could neither of them speak their rage, and so fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting apples.
- 1730, Jonathan Swift, A Vindication of Lord Carteret
- In the midst of caresses, and without the least pretended incitement, to sputter out the basest and falsest accusations.
- 1700, William Congreve, s:The Way of the World
- (transitive, intransitive) To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a noise like that made by one sputtering.
- 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy
- Like the green wood [...] sputtering in the flame.
- 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy
- (physics, intransitive) To cause surface atoms or electrons of a solid to be ejected by bombarding it with heavy atoms or ions.
- (physics, transitive) To coat the surface of an object by sputtering.
Translations[edit]
to emit saliva or spit from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking
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to speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly
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to cause surface atoms or electrons of a solid to be ejected by bombarding it with heavy atoms or ions
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to coat the surface of an object by sputtering
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See also[edit]
References[edit]
- “sputter” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English words suffixed with -er (verbal frequentative)
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ʌtə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ʌtə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English transitive verbs
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