spread

The act of spreading.

Noun

  1. The act of spreading.
    • No flower hath that kind of spread that the woodbine hath. - 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […],...
  2. Something that has been spread.
  3. A layout, pattern or design of cards arranged for a reading.
  4. An expanse of land.
    • November 29, 1712, Andrew Freeport, a letter to The Spectator I have got a fine spread of improvable lands.
  5. A large tract of land used to raise livestock; a cattle ranch.
    • - Can't wait till I get my own spread and won't have to put up with Joe Aguirre's crap no more. - 2005, Brokeback Mountain (film), 00:11:50
  6. A piece of material used as a cover (such as a bedspread).
    • Linen shawls and spreads show up in secondhand clothing stores like those in the row on St. Marks Place in New York City. - 1975, Douglas Matthews, Suzanne Wymelenberg, Susan Cheever Cowley, Secondhand is Better, page...
  7. A large meal, especially one laid out on a table.
  8. Any form of food designed to be spread, such as butters or jams.
    • Ferd liked to experiment with sandwich spreads ― the one he liked most was cream-cheese, olives, anchovy and avocado, mashed up with a little mayonnaise ― but Oscar always had the same pink luncheon-meat. - 1958 May,...
  9. A set of multiple torpedoes launched on side-by-side, slowly-diverging paths toward one or more enemy ships.
    • Johnston, meanwhile, has managed to get within five miles of its target, and fires a full spread of ten torpedoes. Minutes later, at least two, possibly three, tear the bow off the hapless cruiser Kumano. First blood,...
  10. Food improvised by inmates from various ingredients to relieve the tedium of prison food.

    Synonyms: swole

  11. An item in a newspaper or magazine that occupies more than one column or page.
  12. Two facing pages in a book, newspaper etc.

Origin

From Middle English spreden, from Old English sprǣdan (“to spread, expand”), from Proto-Germanic *spraidijaną (“to spread”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to strew, sow, sprinkle”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian spreede (“to spread”), West Frisian spriede (“to spread”), North Frisian spriedjen (“to spread”), Dutch spreiden (“to spread”), Low German spreden (“to spread”), German spreiten (“to spread, spread out”), Danish sprede (“to spread”), Norwegian spre, spreie (“to spread, disseminate”), Swedish sprida (“to spread”), Latin spernō, spargō, Ancient Greek σπείρω (speírō), Persian سپردن (sepordan, “to deposit”), English spurn.

Forms

spreads

Synonyms

straddle

Derived

antispread antispreader aspread bandspread bear spread bedspread bespread bespreading bid-ask spread broadspread broadspreading calendar spread center spread centerspread centre spread cheese spread chocolate spread community spread credit spread cytospread despread despreading diagonal spread dispread

Noun Entry 2

  1. An act or instance of spreading (speedreading).
    • If debate is a game, then the execution of a "spread" is like a well-timed blitz in football. Convincing a judge that your opponents' arguments would cause human extinction is equivalent to a successful Hail Mary pass....
    • It's one L ur chillin just keep practicing read the ballets figure what you did wrong and practice with improvements in mind, get better at spreads and k theory debates. - 2023 February 27, u/Objective-Sugar8720, “Bad...

Origin

Blend of speed + read.

Forms

spreads

Related

spreading

Verb Entry 3

  1. To stretch out, open out (a material etc.) so that it more fully covers a given area of space.
    • He spread his newspaper on the table.
  2. To extend (individual rays, limbs etc.); to stretch out in varying or opposing directions. simple past and past participle of spread
    • I spread my arms wide and welcomed him home.
  3. To disperse, to scatter or distribute over a given area.
    • I spread the rice grains evenly over the floor.

    Synonyms: sow suffuse pervade

  4. To proliferate; to become more widely present, to be disseminated.
    • Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.[…]One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing...
    • As the Erzurum affair indicated, the janissaries in the provinces and in the capital city were in close touch, and thus the movements were quick to spread to Istanbul. - 2018, Pál Fodor, The Business of State. Ottoman...
    • I placed my hands on his cheeks, and this time, I kissed him. “Don't worry, I'm not going to let anything spoil our day. It's just you and me.” A sad smile spread across his face, and I could tell he wanted to believe...
  5. To disseminate; to cause to proliferate, to make (something) widely known or present.
    • The missionaries quickly spread their new message across the country.

    Synonyms: sweep

  6. To take up a larger area or space; to expand, be extended.
    • I dropped my glass; the water spread quickly over the tiled floor.

    Synonyms: sweep

  7. To smear, to distribute in a thin layer.
    • She liked to spread butter on her toast while it was still hot.
  8. To cover (something) with a thin layer of some substance, as of butter.
    • He always spreads his toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam.
  9. To prepare; to set and furnish with provisions.
    • to spread a table
    • And Enid brought sweet cakes to make them cheer, / And in her veil enfolded, manchet bread. / And then, because their hall must also serve / For kitchen, boil'd the flesh, and spread the board, / And stood behind, and...
  10. To open one’s legs, especially for sexual favours.
    • This often sounds like the rap of a demented DJ: the way she moves has got to be good news, can't get loose till I feel the juice— suck and spread, bitch, yeah bounce for me baby. - 1984, Martin Amis, Money:
    • Yes I wore a slinky red thing. Does that mean I should spread for you, your friends, your father, Mr Ed? - 1991, Tori Amos, Me and a Gun:
    • I don't want to move too fast, but / Can't resist your sexy ass / Just spread, spread for me; / (I can't, I can't wait to get you home) - 2003, Outkast, "Spread" (from the album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below)

Forms

spreads spreading spread

Synonyms

disseminate circulate propagate diffuse put about

Verb Entry 4

  1. To speedread; to recite one's arguments at an extremely fast pace.
    • You're assuming that if someone spreads they aren't a good orator. That's flawed logic. - 2022 July 8, u/chromantical, “spreading is cringe and should be stopped”, in Reddit, r/Debate, archived from the original on 17...
    • In my first year on the circuit, I learned to spread and did decently well. I won most of my rounds, not that I could tell you how I did it. - 2022 September, Tess McNulty, “Both Sides Now”, in Harper's Magazine, New...

Forms

spreads spreading spread