Spat, n. [From the root of spit; hence, literally, that which is
ejected.] A young oyster or other bivalve mollusk, both before and
after it first becomes adherent, or such young, collectively.
Spat, v. i. & t. To emit spawn; to emit, as spawn.
Spat, n. [Cf. Pat.] 1. A light blow with something flat. [U.S. & Prov.
Eng.]
2. Hence, a petty combat, esp. a verbal one; a little quarrel, dispute,
or dissension. [U. S.]
Spat, v. i. To dispute. [R.] Smart.
Spat, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Spatting.] To slap,
as with the open hand; to clap together; as the hands. [Local, U.S.]
Little Isabel leaped up and down, spatting her hands.
Judd.
Spa*tan"goid (?), a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Spatangoidea. --
n. One of the Spatangoidea.
||Spat`an*goi"de*a (?), n. pl. [NL. See Spatangus, and -oid.] (Zoöl.)
||An order of irregular sea urchins, usually having a more or less
||heart-shaped shell with four or five petal-like ambulacra above. The
||mouth is edentulous and situated anteriorly, on the under side.
||Spa*tan"gus (?), n. [NL., fr. L. spatangius a kind of sea urchin, Gr.
||&?;.] (Zoöl.) A genus of heart-shaped sea urchins belonging to the
||Spatangoidea.
Spatch"cock` (?), n. See Spitchcock.
Spate (?), n. [Of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. speid.] A river flood; an
overflow or inundation. Burns.
Gareth in a showerful spring Stared at the spate.
Tennyson.
||Spa"tha (?), n.; pl. Spathæ (#). [L.] (Bot.) A spathe.
Spa*tha"ceous (?), a. (Bot.) Having a spathe; resembling a spathe;
spathal.
Spa"thal (?), a. (Bot.) Furnished with a spathe; as, spathal flowers.
Howitt.
Spathe (?), n. [L. spatha, Gr. &?;: cf. F. spathe. See Spade for
digging.] (Bot.) A special involucre formed of one leaf and inclosing a
spadix, as in aroid plants and palms. See the Note under Bract, and
Illust. of Spadix.
The name is also given to the several-leaved involucre of the iris and
other similar plants.
Spathed (?), a. (Bot.) Having a spathe or calyx like a sheath.
Spath"ic (?), a. [Cf. F. spathique, fr. F. & G. spath spar.] Like spar;
foliated or lamellar; spathose.
Spathic iron (Min.), siderite. See Siderite (a).
Spath"i*form (?), a. [F. spathiforme.] Resembling spar in form. "The
ocherous, spathiform, and mineralized forms of uranite." Lavoisier
(Trans.).
Spath"ose` (?), a. (Min.) See Spathic.
Spath"ose`, a. [See Spathe.] (Bot.) Having a spathe; resembling a
spathe; spatheceous; spathal.
Spath"ous (?), a. (Bot.) Spathose.
Spath"u*late (?), a. See Spatulate.
Spa"tial (?), a. Of or pertaining to space. "Spatial quantity and
relations." L. H. Atwater.
Spa"tial*ly (?), adv. As regards space.
Spa"ti*ate (?), v. t. [L. spatiatus, p. p. of spatiari, fr. spatiatum.
See Space.] To rove; to ramble. [Obs.] Bacon.
Spat"ter (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spattered (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Spattering.] [From the root of spit salvia.] 1. To sprinkle with a
liquid or with any wet substance, as water, mud, or the like; to make
wet of foul spots upon by sprinkling; as, to spatter a coat; to spatter
the floor; to spatter boots with mud.
Upon any occasion he is to be spattered over with the blood of his
people.
Burke.
2. To distribute by sprinkling; to sprinkle around; as, to spatter
blood. Pope.
3. Fig.: To injure by aspersion; to defame; to soil; also, to throw out
in a defamatory manner.
Spat"ter, v. i. To throw something out of the mouth in a scattering
manner; to sputter.
That mind must needs be irrecoverably depraved, which, . . .
tasting but once of one just deed, spatters at it, and abhors the
relish ever after.
Milton.
Spat"ter*dashed` (?), a. Wearing spatterdashes. [Colloq.] Thackeray.
Spat"ter*dash`es (?), n. pl. [Spatter + dash.] Coverings for the legs,
to protect them from water and mud; long gaiters.
Spat`ter-dock` (?), n. (Bot.) The common yellow water lily (Nuphar
advena).
Spat"tle (?), n. Spawl; spittle. [Obs.] Bale.
Spat"tle, n. 1. A spatula.
2. (Pottery) A tool or implement for mottling a molded article with
coloring matter Knoght.
Spat"tling-pop"py (?), n. [Prov. E. spattle to spit + E. poppy.] (Bot.)
A kind of catchfly (Silene inflata) which is sometimes frothy from the
action of captured insects.
Spat"u*la (?; 135), n. [L. spatula, spathula, dim. of spatha a spatula:
F. spatule. See Spade for digging.] An implement shaped like a knife,
flat, thin, and somewhat flexible, used for spreading paints, fine
plasters, drugs in compounding prescriptions, etc. Cf. Palette knife,
under Palette.
Spat"u*late (?), a. [NL. spatulatus.] (Nat. Hist.) Shaped like spatula,
or like a battledoor, being roundish, with a long, narrow, linear base.
[Also written spathulate.]