SCATTERING • DICTIONARY ONE.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.

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Etymology of 'Scattering'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scattering" Quotes from Famous Books

... lovely looks the gay, the smiling land, She said; while through the scattering cloud appears The blue sky, dissipating all our fears. The clouds, as through the air they quickly pass, Hurry their shadows o'er the glist'ning grass. See, Damon, now, o'er yonder hill they throw Their shade o'er herds and cottages, and lo! They're flown, and ...

— Translations of German Poetry in American Magazines 1741-1810 • Edward Ziegler Davis

... the fluid vortex flies, Scattering dun night, and horror through the skies, The swift volution and the enormous train Let sages versed in Nature's lore explain; The horrid apparition still draws nigh, And white with foam ...

— The Island Home • Richard Archer

... captivating, finally, through a wonderfully invented little theme which is drawn like a "red thread" through all the flashing and glittering waves of tone, and which, as it were, prevents them from scattering to all quarters of the heavens. This little theme, strictly speaking only a phrase of two measures, is, in a certain sense, the motto which serves as a superscription for the etude, appearing first one voiced, and immediately afterward four voiced. The slow time (Lento) shows the ...

— Chopin: The Man and His Music • James Huneker

... to embers and a sudden scattering of ashes woke him out of his dreaming. The old Scots land was many thousand miles away. His past was wiped out behind him. He was alone in a very strange place, cut off by a great gulf from youth and ...

— The Half-Hearted • John Buchan

... and while his mighty Hand Is scattering Plenty over all the Land; With God-like Bounty recompensing all, Some fruitful drops may on the Muses fall; Since honest Pens do his just cause afford Equal Advantage with the ...

— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. III • Aphra Behn

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