SCATTERING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Scattering

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/skˈætərɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Scatter v. t. (past & past part. scattered; pres. part. scattering)

To strew about; to sprinkle around; to throw down loosely; to deposit or place here and there, esp. in an open or sparse order. "And some are scattered all the floor about." "Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?" "Teach the glad hours to scatter, as they fly, Soft quiet, gentle love, and endless joy."

To cause to separate in different directions; to reduce from a close or compact to a loose or broken order; to dissipate; to disperse. "Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths."

Hence, to frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow; as, to scatter hopes, plans, or the like.

Synonyms: To disperse; dissipate; spread; strew.

Scatter v. i. To be dispersed or dissipated; to disperse or separate; as, clouds scatter after a storm.

noun

Scattering n. Act of strewing about; something scattered.

adjective

Scattering adj. Going or falling in various directions; not united or aggregated; divided among many; as, scattering votes.

See images of 'Scattering'

Etymology of 'Scattering'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scattering" Quotes from Famous Books

... yet, and he's not worth the money either, with all his secrets. They are not worth that to me. I don't know what they are to you. On the contrary, he is scattering the money, though twelve days ago he begged fifteen kopecks of me, and it's he treats me to champagne, not I him. But you've given me an idea, and if there should be occasion I will make him drunk, just to get to the bottom of it and maybe I shall find out... all your ...

— The Possessed - or, The Devils • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... showed any disposition to yield. Matters reached an acute stage in 1618. English and Dutch fishing fleets of exceptional strength sailed into the northern waters in the early summer of that year, and a fierce fight took place, which, as two Dutch war vessels were present, resulted in the scattering of the English vessels and considerable loss of ...

— History of Holland • George Edmundson

... with remorse, refused further to pursue their path of destruction—the entire army scattering in ...

— The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories • Leo Tolstoy

... mingled with contempt appears in Josiah's scattering the 'dust' of the images on the graves of their worshippers, as if he said: 'There you lie together, pounded idols and dead worshippers, neither able to help the other!' The same feelings prompted digging up the skeletons of priests and burning the bones on the very altars that ...

— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... fruit which differs from most of its family in having not three but many divisions, usually a multiple of three up to fifteen; a fruit which it is difficult to obtain, even where the tree is plentiful: for hanging at the end of long branches, it bursts when ripe with a crack like a pistol, scattering its seeds far and wide: from whence its name of ...

— At Last • Charles Kingsley

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