splay

Noun · Verb · Adjective
Synonyms: turn outspread outrotatedislocateluxateslip

Open English WordNet

Noun (1)

  1. an outward bevel around a door or window that makes it seem largerType of bevel, cant

Verb (3)

  1. spread open or apart“He splayed his huge hands over the table”More general unfold, spread
  2. turn outward“These birds can splay out their toes”“ballet dancers can rotate their legs out by 90 degrees”Synonyms: turn outspread outrotateMore general turn
  3. move out of position“dislocate joints”“the artificial hip joint luxated and had to be put back surgically”Synonyms: dislocateluxateslipMore general move, displace

Adjective (1)

  1. turned outward in an ungainly manner“splay knees”Opposite pigeon-toedSimilar splayfooted, splayfoot

Related words sideslip noun, slippage noun

Word of the day · Sep 28About this word
onerousadjective

What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz

Advertisement

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Splay transitive verb

Origin: Abbrev. of display.

1. To display; to spread. obsolete “Our ensigns splayed.” George Gascoigne

2. To dislocate, as a shoulder bone.

3. To spay; to castrate. Obs. or Prov. Eng.

4. To turn on one side; to render oblique; to slope or slant, as the side of a door, window, etc. Oxford Glossary of Architecture, 1845

Splay adjective

Displayed; spread out; turned outward; hence, flat; ungainly; as, splay shoulders.

Sonwthing splay, something blunt-edged, unhandy, and infelicitous.— Matthew Arnold
Splay adjective

Architecture A slope or bevel, especially of the sides of a door or window, by which the opening is made larged at one face of the wall than at the other, or larger at each of the faces than it is between them.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

Advertisement