SCATTER • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Scatter

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/skˈætər/ 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.

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Etymology of 'Scatter'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scatter" Quotes from Famous Books

... about it!" said Don Quixote. "I have now got to tear up my garments, to scatter about my armour, knock my head against these rocks, and more of the same sort of ...

— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... soon became blinding, and after that our progress was mostly in the nature of groping. Now a furious wind began to rush out from behind the waterfall, which seemed determined to sweep us from the bridge, and scatter us on the rocks and among the torrents below. I remarked that I wanted to go home; but it was too late. We were almost under the monstrous wall of water thundering down from above, and speech was in vain in the midst of such ...

— The Bed-Book of Happiness • Harold Begbie

... all her foes. Our humble duty is to stand by her, merely as seconds in the strife, to help her to her feet should she fall, to burnish her armor if the rust come to dim its brightness or spoil the keenness of her weapon's edge, knowing that she, as with the sword of the cherubim, will scatter, at the last, the evil legions and their dark array, as the ...

— Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4 • Various

... Order, I feel myself a thousand times more ready for action, more authoritative, more strong and more daring, at the head of our mute and black-robed militia, who only think and wish, or move and obey, mechanically, according to my will. On a sign they scatter over the surface of the globe, gliding stealthily into households under the guise of confessing the wife or teaching the children, into family affairs by hearing the dying avowals,—up to the throne through the quaking conscience ...

— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue

... more heavy with clouds. Anon a few drops of rain began to fall, making the torches sizzle and splutter, and scatter grease and tar around and wetting the lightly-covered shoulders of tarlatan-clad Columbines. But no one cared! The glow of so much merrymaking kept the blood warm ...

— The Elusive Pimpernel • Baroness Emmuska Orczy

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