Wiktionary

splay

English

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WOTD – 9 February 2024

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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PIE word
*dwís

The verb is derived from Middle English splaien, splayen (“to display; to spread out, unfurl (a flag, etc.); (cooking) to cut open (a fish) lengthwise and lay it open; (figurative) to appear; to spread”),[1] an aphetic form of Middle English displaien, displayen (“to display”):[2][3] see display.

The adjective and adverb are derived from the verb, or from splayfoot (noun) or splayfooted (adjective).[4] The noun is derived from the verb.[5]

Verb

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splay (third-person singular simple present splays, present participle splaying, simple past and past participle splayed)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To spread, spread apart, or spread out (something); to expand.
      Synonyms: broaden, (obsolete) display, widen
      • 1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The Preface of Erasmus vnto His Paraphrase vpon the Ghospell of Luke. Unto the Moostle Puissaunt and Most Victorious Prince Henry the Eight, King of England, Fraunce, and Ireland, […].”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio xi, verso:
        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.
      • 1567, Ovid, “The Sixt Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 69, recto:
        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.
      • 1951 August, P. W. Gentry, “Cliff Railways”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 515:
        The tracks are laid with the inner rails only 10 in. apart, except at the half way point (North Walk) where they are splayed out to allow the cars to pass.
    2. (chiefly architecture) To construct a bevel or slope on (something, such as the frame or jamb of a door or window); to bevel, to slant, to slope.
      • 1851, John Ruskin, “Form of Aperture”, in The Stones of Venice, volume I (The Foundations), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § IV, page 170:
        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. (computing theory) To rearrange (a splay tree) so that a desired element is placed at the root.
    4. (pathology) To dislocate (a body part such as a shoulder bone).
    5. (obsolete) To unfurl or unroll (a banner or flag).
      Synonym: (obsolete) display
      • a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Poems against Garnesche”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 119, lines 29–30:
        Ye grounde yow vpon Godfrey, that grysly gargons face, / Your stondarde, Syr Olifranke, agenst me for to splay: […]
      • 1576, George Gascoigne, “The Fruites of Warre, Written vppon This Theame, Dulce Bellum Inexpertis, […]”, in The Posies of George Gascoigne Esquire. […], London: […] H[enry] Bynneman for Richard Smith, […], →OCLC, stanza 168, page cl:
        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: […]
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To have, or lie in, an oblique or slanted position.
    2. To spread out awkwardly; to sprawl.
      • 1846 February 28 – 1847 February 27, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “On Some Country Snobs”, in The Book of Snobs, London: Punch Office, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 95:
        "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.
Derived terms
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Translations
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to dislocate (a body part) — see dislocate

Adjective

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splay (comparative more splay, superlative most splay)

  1. Oblique, slanted.
  2. Turned outward; spread out.
    to sit splay-legged
  3. (figurative) Crooked, distorted, out of place.
    Synonym: awry
    splay shoulders
    • 1873, Matthew Arnold, “Preface”, in Literature & Dogma: An Essay towards a Better Apprehension of the Bible, London: Smith, Elder, & Co. […], →OCLC, page xxvi:
      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.
    • 1879–1880, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Steerage Types”, in The Amateur Emigrant: From the Clyde to Sandy Hook, Chicago, Ill.: Stone and Kimball, published 18 January 1895, →OCLC, page 57:
      We have a fellow on board, an Irish-American, for all the world like a beggar in a print by [Georges] Callot; one-eyed, with great, splay crow's-feet round the sockets; […]
Derived terms
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Translations
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Adverb

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splay (comparative more splay, superlative most splay)

  1. In an oblique or slanted manner; obliquely, slantedly.
    Synonyms: slantingly, slantwise, slopingly
  2. Of walking, etc.: with the feet turned outwards; in a splayfooted manner.
    Synonym: splayfoot
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Noun

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splay (plural splays)

 
A splay (noun sense 2.1) on a door frame.
 
The splay (noun sense 3.1) of a minor road in the United Kingdom at its junction with a major road.
  1. An outward spread of an object such as a bowl or cup.
  2. (architecture, also attributive)
    2. A 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.
    3. The amount of such a bevel, slant, or slope.
  3. (road transport)
    2. A 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
    3. The 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.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English splaien, splayen,[1] a variant of spaien, spayen (“to remove the ovaries of (a female animal), spay; to stab or kill (an animal)”):[6][7] see spay.

Verb

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splay (third-person singular simple present splays, present participle splaying, simple past and past participle splayed)

  1. (transitive, obsolete except Ireland, Lincolnshire, Shropshire) Synonym of spay (“to destroy or remove the ovaries and/or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy”)
    • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VIII.] Of Swine and Their Natures.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 230:
      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.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 66, column 2:
      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?
    • 1663, Robert Boyle, “Essay V. Proposing Some Particulars wherein Natural Philosophy may be Useful to the Therapeutical Part of Physick.”, in Some Considerations Touching the Vsefulnesse of Experimental Naturall Philosophy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall printer to the University, for Ric[hard] Davis, →OCLC, part II, section I (Of It’s Usefulness to Physick), chapter XII, page 234:
      [T]o ſay nothing of the knovvn practice of ſplaying Svvine and Bitches; […]
Translations
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “splaien, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “splay, v.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
  3. ^ “splay, v. and n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.
  4. ^ “splay, adv. and adj.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
  5. ^ “splay, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  6. ^ “spaien, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  7. ^ Compare “splay, v.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Verb

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splay

  1. Alternative form of splayen
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Note 1