<B>splash, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to cause (water, mud, or the like) to fly about so as to wet or soil. <BR> <I>Ex. The baby likes to splash the water in his tub.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to cause to scatter a liquid about. <BR> <I>Ex. He splashed the oars as he rowed.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to wet, spatter, or soil. <BR> <I>Ex. Our car is all splashed with mud.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to make (one's way) with splashing. <BR> <I>Ex. The boat splashed its way up the river.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to mark with spots or patches. <BR> <I>Ex. The careless painter splashed the furniture.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>to move (logs) by opening a dam and releasing a flood of water. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to dash water, mud, or the like, about. <BR> <I>Ex. The baby likes to splash in his tub.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to dash in scattered masses or drops. <BR> <I>Ex. Muddy water splashed on our windshield. The waves splashed on the beach.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to fall, move, or go with a splash or splashes. <BR> <I>Ex. The dog splashed across the brook.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the act, result, or sound of splashing. <BR> <I>Ex. The splash of the wave knocked him over. The boat upset with a loud splash.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a spot of liquid splashed upon a thing. <BR> <I>Ex. She has splashes of grease on her dress.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a large or uneven patch or spot. <BR> <I>Ex. The dog is white with brown splashes.</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>the moving of logs by splashing. <DD><B> b. </B>the water released from a dam in order to splash logs. <BR><I>expr. <B>make a splash,</B> </I>(Informal.) to attract attention; cause excitement. <BR> <I>Ex. He is free from the desire to make a splash, or the impulse of some academics to bite their former mentors in the leg (Marcus Cunliffe).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>splash down,</B> </I>to land in the ocean after a space flight. <BR> <I>Ex. The mission will be over, however, when the ... spacecraft plunges back through the atmosphere to splash down in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Hawaii (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="splashback">
<B>splashback, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a guard in the back of a cookstove or on a wall to protect against splashes. </DL>
<A NAME="splashboard">
<B>splashboard, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a guard in front of the driver's seat, or one over or beside a wheel, to prevent mud or water, from splashing into the vehicle; dashboard; mudguard. <DD><B> 2. </B>a screen rising from the deck of a boat to block off water or spray. <DD><B> 3. </B>a plank for closing the sluice or spillway of a dam. </DL>
<A NAME="splashdam">
<B>splash dam,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a dam built to store a head of water for driving logs. </DL>
<A NAME="splashdown">
<B>splashdown, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the landing of a capsule or other spacecraft in the ocean after reentry. <BR> <I>Ex. Just after splashdown, frogmen reaching the space capsule plugged a floating telephone into a socket on the craft's exterior and immediately established communications with [the] astronauts (Science News Letter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="splasher">
<B>splasher, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person or thing that splashes. <DD><B> 2. </B>something that protects from splashes; splashboard. </DL>
<A NAME="splashguard">
<B>splash guard,</B> <B>=mudguard.</B></DL>
<A NAME="splashlubrication">
<B>splash lubrication,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a lubricating system for an internal-combustion engine in which oil is splashed by the moving parts onto all parts of the engine. </DL>
<A NAME="splashy">
<B>splashy, </B>adjective, <B>splashier,</B> <B>splashiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>making a splash. <DD><B> 2. </B>full of irregular spots or streaks; done in splashes. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal.) attracting attention; causing excitement or comment; showy. <BR> <I>Ex. The star of the show made a splashy entrance. Around the World in 80 Days--a big, splashy, funny review of the Jules Verne fantasy (New Yorker).</I> adv. <B>splashily.</B> noun <B>splashiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="splat">
<B>splat</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a broad, flat piece of wood, especially one forming the central upright part of the back of a chair. </DL>
<A NAME="splat">
<B>splat</B> (2), verb, <B>splatted,</B> <B>splatting,</B> noun, interjection.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> to cause to spatter or splash against a hard surface; splatter. <BR> <I>Ex. He splats lemons against a wall (Harper's).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to make a dull, flat sound, as of splattering or splashing. <BR> <I>Ex. A full wallet splatted to the sand (Barnaby Conrad).</I> <DD><I>noun, interj. </I> a spattering, splashing, or slapping sound. <BR> <I>Ex. The splat occurs when a stream of fine droplets of molten metals lands on a solid surface (New Scientist). The grapefruit went "splat!" and came down in a shower of juice (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<B>splatter, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> to splash or spatter. <BR> <I>Ex. The cotton is ... white, splattered with stylized red and black snowflakes (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a splash or splatter. </DL>
<A NAME="splay">
<B>splay, </B>verb, adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to spread out; expand; extend. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make slanting, as the jambs or sides of a window; bevel. <DD><B> 3. </B>to dislocate, as a horse's shoulder. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to have or lie in a slanting direction; slope. <DD><B> 2. </B>to spread out; flare. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>spread out; wide and flat; turned outward. <BR> <I>Ex. splay feet.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>awkward; clumsy; ungainly. <DD><B> 3. </B>oblique; awry. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a spread; flare. <DD><B> 2. </B>a surface that makes an oblique angle with another, such as the beveled jamb of a window or door; slanting surface. </DL>
<A NAME="splayfoot">
<B>splayfoot, </B>noun, pl. <B>-feet,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a broad, flat foot, especially one turned outward. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=splay-footed.</B> </DL>
<B>splay-toed, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having the toes spread out. </DL>
<A NAME="spleen">
<B>spleen, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a ductless, glandlike organ at the left of the stomach in man, and near the stomach or intestine in other vertebrates. It stores blood and helps filter foreign substances from the blood. The spleen was once believed to cause low spirits, bad temper, and spite. <DD><B> 2. </B>bad temper; spite; anger. <BR> <I>Ex. This is the land where hate should die, No feuds of faith, no spleen of race (Denis A. McCarthy).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>low spirits; moroseness; melancholy. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) a whim. <BR> <I>Ex. A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways (Shakespeare).</I> adj. <B>spleenlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="spleenful">
<B>spleenful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> irritable or peevish; spiteful. adv. <B>spleenfully.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="spleenless">
<B>spleenless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having no spleen. </DL>
<A NAME="spleenwort">
<B>spleenwort, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of ferns having oblong spore cases situated obliquely on the upper surface of small veins. </DL>
<A NAME="spleeny">
<B>spleeny, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> full of or characterized by spleen; spleenful. </DL>
<A NAME="splendacious">
<B>splendacious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> very splendid; gorgeous; magnificent. <BR> <I>Ex. The room is papered with some splendacious pattern in blue and gold (Blackwood's Magazine).</I> </DL>
<B>splendid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>brilliant; glorious; magnificent; grand. <BR> <I>Ex. a splendid sunset, splendid jewels, a splendid palace, a splendid victory. Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling (Walt Whitman).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>very good; fine; excellent. <BR> <I>Ex. a splendid chance, a splendid time.</I> adv. <B>splendidly.</B> noun <B>splendidness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="splendiferous">
<B>splendiferous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) splendid; magnificent. <BR> <I>Ex. The splendiferous hotel was surely the set where the Marx brothers had gambolled through "A Night in Casablanca" (Sunday Express).</I> adv. <B>splendiferously.</B> noun <B>splendiferousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="splendor">
<B>splendor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>great brightness; brilliant light or luster. <BR> <I>Ex. The sun set in a golden splendor ... splendor of coral seas (William O. Douglas).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>great display of riches or costly things; magnificent show; pomp. <BR> <I>Ex. the splendor of a royal wedding.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>brilliant glory. <BR> <I>Ex. How the grand band-wagon shone with a splendor all its own (James Whitcomb Riley).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="splendorous">
<B>splendorous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> full of splendor. <BR> <I>Ex. A light that spreads a finer joy, Than cloudless noon-tide splendorous o'er the world (George MacDonald).</I> </DL>
