spray Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a pesticide in suspension or solution; intended for spraying
  2. noun a quantity of small objects flying through the air
    spraying.
    • a spray of bullets
  3. noun flower arrangement consisting of a single branch or shoot bearing flowers and foliage
  4. noun a dispenser that turns a liquid (such as perfume) into a fine mist
    nebuliser; atomizer; sprayer; atomiser; nebulizer.
  5. noun water in small drops in the atmosphere; blown from waves or thrown up by a waterfall
  6. noun a jet of vapor
  7. verb be discharged in sprays of liquid
    • Water sprayed all over the floor
  8. verb scatter in a mass or jet of droplets
    • spray water on someone
    • spray paint on the wall
  9. verb cover by spraying with a liquid
    • spray the wall with paint

WordNet


Spray noun
Etymology
Cf. Dan. sprag. See Sprig.
Definitions
  1. A small shoot or branch; a twig. Chaucer.
    The painted birds, companions of the spring, Hopping from spray, were heard to sing. Dryden.
  2. A collective body of small branches; as, the tree has a beautiful spray.
    And from the trees did lop the needless spray. Spenser.
  3. (Founding) (a) A side channel or branch of the runner of a flask, made to distribute the metal in all parts of the mold. (b) A group of castings made in the same mold and connected by sprues formed in the runner and its branches. Knight.
Spray noun
Etymology
probably from a Dutch or Low German form akin to E. spread. See Spread, v. t.
Definitions
  1. Water flying in small drops or particles, as by the force of wind, or the dashing of waves, or from a waterfall, and the like.
  2. (Med.) (a) A jet of fine medicated vapor, used either as an application to a diseased part or to charge the air of a room with a disinfectant or a deodorizer. (b) An instrument for applying such a spray; an atomizer.
Spray transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To let fall in the form of spray. Poetic M. Arnold.
  2. To throw spray upon; to treat with a liquid in the form of spray; as, to spray a wound, or a surgical instrument, with carbolic acid.

Webster 1913