splayverb詞源 1/spleɪ/

• 1

  To spread, spread apart, or spread out (something); to expand.

  • Thiſſame ſo great a chaunge of the world, begoonne within a fewe yeares after Chriſt was putte to death, to be made generall and common through al the whold worlde, and withoute any maintenaunce or ſupportacion of mã [man], it encreaced from tyme to tyme ſtill more and more, vntyll the piece of leauen beeyng miengled in three peckes of meale did leauen and turne al the whole batche, and vntill the graine of muſtard ſeed beeyng digged into the yearth, did ferre and wyde ſpleigh his boughes abrode ouer Aſia, ouer Afrike, and Europe.
  • The Lydian maiden in her web did portray to her full / […] / Aſteriee ſtruggling with an Erne which did away hir beare, / And ouer Leda ſhe had made a Swan his wings to ſplay.
• 2

  architectureTo construct a bevel or slope on (something, such as the frame or jamb of a door or window); to bevel, to slant, to slope.

  • When entrance and egress [through a door] are constant, it may be supposed that the valves will be absent or unfastened,—that people will be passing more quickly than when the entrance and egress are unfrequent, and that the square angles of the wall will be inconvenient to such quick passers through. […] [T]hese angles, which would be worn away by friction, should at once be bevelled off, or, as it is called, splayed, and the most contracted part of the aperture made as short as possible, […]
• 3

  computingcomputing-theoryengineeringTo rearrange (a splay tree) so that a desired element is placed at the root.

• 4

  medicinepathologysciencesTo dislocate (a body part such as a shoulder bone).

• 5

  obsoleteTo unfurl or unroll (a banner or flag).

  • Ye grounde yow vpon Godfrey, that grysly gargons face, / Your stondarde, Syr Olifranke, agenst me for to splay: […]
  • We rendred then with ſaftie for our liues, / Our Enſignes ſplayed, and manyging our armes, / With furder fayth, that from all kinde of giues, / Our ſouldiours ſhould remayne withouten harmes: […]
• 6

  To have, or lie in, an oblique or slanted position.

• 7

  To spread out awkwardly; to sprawl.

  • "What a finger!" says Mrs. Ponto, and indeed it was a finger, as knotted as a turkey's drumstick, and splaying all over the piano. When she had banged out the tune slowly, she began a different manner of "Gettin' up Stairs," and did so with a fury and swiftness quite incredible.

splayadj詞源 1/spleɪ/

• 1

  Oblique, slanted.

• 2

  Turned outward; spread out.

  • to sit splay-legged
• 3

  Crooked, distorted, out of place.

  • splay shoulders
  • In the German mind, as in the German language, there does seem to be something splay, something blunt-edged, unhandy, and infelicitous,—some want of quick, fine, sure perception, which tends to balance the great superiority of the Germans in knowledge, and in the disposition to deal impartially with knowledge.

splayadv詞源 1/spleɪ/

• 1

  In an oblique or slanted manner; obliquely, slantedly.

• 2

  Of walking, etc.: with the feet turned outwards; in a splayfooted manner.

splaynoun詞源 1/spleɪ/

• 1

  An outward spread of an object such as a bowl or cup.

• 2

  architectureA bevel, slant, or slope, especially of the frame or jamb of a door or window, by which an opening is made larger at one face of the wall than at the other, or larger at each of the faces than it is between them.

  • The daylight was so lowered by the impervious roof of cloud overhead that it scarcely reached further into Lord Mountclere's entrance-hall than to the splays of the windows, even but an hour or two after midday; […]
• 3

  architectureThe amount of such a bevel, slant, or slope.

• 4

  roadtransportA widening of a minor road where it forms a junction with a major road to ensure that the view of traffic on the major road by drivers on the minor road is not obstructed.

  • visibility splay
• 5

  roadtransportThe view to the left or right which a driver on a minor road has of traffic on the major road; also, a plan showing this.

splayverb詞源 2/spleɪ/

• 1

  Synonym of spay (“to destroy or remove the ovaries and/or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy”).

  • Sovves alſo are ſplaied as vvell as camels, but tvvo daies before, they be kept from meat; then hang they them by the forelegs for to make inciſion into their matrice [womb], and to take forth their ſtones: and by this means they vvill ſooner grovv to be fat.
  • Eſc[alus]. Hovv vvould you liue Pompey? by being a bavvd? […] the Lavv vvould not allovv it Pompey; nor it ſhall not be allovved in Vienna. / Clo[wne, i.e., Pompey Bum, a pimp]. Do's your VVorſhip meane to geld and ſplay all the youth of the City?