splutter

A forceful emission of something, especially in small drops or particles; a spluttering or sputtering.

Interjection

  1. A minced oath expressing anger or wonder, usually attributed to Welsh people: 'sblood.
    • I vvill ſhevv him that I vvas not bred at Oxford for nothing.—Splutter! I vvill ſhevv him my head is good for ſomething elſe beſides preaching. - 1731 (date written), Scriblerus Secundus [pseudonym; Henry Fielding],...
    • Here he vvas interrupted vvith, "Splutter and oons! you louſy tog, vvho do you call my maſter?[…]." - 1748, [Tobias Smollett], “The Behaviour of Mr. Morgan— […]”, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I,...

Origin

A modification of God’s blood.

Noun

  1. A forceful emission of something, especially in small drops or particles; a spluttering or sputtering.
    • a splutter of water from a pipe
    • [He] broke down a slap, as he called it, in a dry stone fence, and lugged the unresisting animal [a horse] through the breach, about a rood of the simple masonry giving way in the splutter with which he passed. - 1815...
    • As certain liquors, confined in casks too cramped in their dimensions, will ferment, and fret, and chafe in their imprisonment, so the spiritual essence or soul of Mr. Tappertit would sometimes fume within that precious...
  2. A forceful choking or spitting sound.
  3. A noisy commotion.
    • But party carries every thing nowadays, and what a splutter have I heard about the wit of that saying, repeated with admiration about a hundred times in half an hour. - 1711 February 11 (date written; Gregorian...
    • [M]y ways of out-of-the-wayness were by no means quiet, but perpetually firing up under their feet in little splutters and spitfires of the most appalling heresy; […] - 1887, John Ruskin, “Rome”, in Præterita. Outlines...
  4. A disagreement or dispute.

    Synonyms: controversy

  5. Chaotic and forceful speaking, verbal exchange, etc.; (countable) an instance of this.
    • a splutter of rage from the old man

    Synonyms: sputter

Origin

The noun is imitative. The verb is derived from the noun.

Forms

splutters

Verb

  1. To forcefully emit (something), especially in small drops or particles; to sputter.
  2. To soil or sprinkle (someone or something) with a substance, often a liquid; to bespatter, to spatter.
  3. To direct angry words, criticism, insults, etc., at (someone or something).
    • There has been much spluttering about the prince’s use of ‘Americanisms’ in a letter to Emmanuel Macron, but the truth is more complicated[.] - 2019 April 18, David Shariatmadari, “Ize on the prize: is Prince Charles...
  4. Sometimes followed by out: to speak (words) hurriedly, and confusedly or unclearly.
    • Alas, for the expectations of man! His hopes are like the fruits of that melancholy shore, where death appears to live and life to die. He biteth, and spluttereth forth the unsavoury and abominable deception. - 1831...

    Synonyms: sputter

  5. Of a thing: to forcefully emit something, especially in small drops or particles.
    • [H]e at once stepped into the stationer's shop, and requested to be served with a sheet of the best gilt-edged letter-paper, and a hard-nibbed pen which could be warranted not to splutter. - 1836 March – 1837 October,...
    • You see if my pen doesn't splutter, Polly, the moment I address Richard Paulette. - 1863, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “A Stolen Honeymoon”, in John Marchmont’s Legacy. […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: Tinsley...
    • The log on the fire spluttered and sent a cloud of sparks up the chimney, and shadows of the bell-ringers started up on the walls and disappeared in the intricacies of the roof. - 1867, Joseph Hatton, “Ringing the New...

    Synonyms: sputter

    1. To spray droplets of saliva from the mouth while eating or speaking.

      Synonyms: sputter

  6. Of a substance: to be emitted forcefully in small drops or particles.
    • Suddenly a beautiful delf blue-and-white flower-pot, which had been set on the window-sill of an upper storey, fell to the ground with a crash, and the fragments spluttered up around my father's legs. - 1848 April –...
  7. To make a sound or sounds of something forcefully emitting a substance in small drops or particles.
    • So you may see Jobson on such occasions, […] puffing, strutting, and spluttering, to get the justice put in motion, […] - 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Rob Roy. […], volume I,...
  8. Followed by out: to go out (as a flame) or stop functioning (as an engine or machine) with a spluttering action or sound (senses 2.1 or 2.3).
  9. To speak hurriedly, and confusedly or unclearly.
    • If thou splutterest so, thou wilt drop out thy teeth; that is, if they be thine, which I for one doubt! - 1853, John Wynne, “The Advocate of Durango; or, The Avenging Spirit. A Tale of Mexico. A Romantic, Domestic...
    • He was in such a rage that his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. He could not even swear. He could only splutter. - 1881, Walter Besant, James Rice, “How Will Would Not Be Crossed”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet...

    Synonyms: sputter

  10. To perform in an inconsistent manner to a substandard level.
    • Manchester City, Liverpool, Bolton and Manchester United come next for Wolves in the Premier League but [Mick] McCarthy's men will fear no one after beating Chelsea for the first time in 18 years, while [Carlo]...

Forms

splutters spluttering spluttered no-table-tags glossary splutter splutterest splutteredst spluttereth -

Derived

splutterer spluttering splutteringly spluttery