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splay

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Splay is defined as to spread out.

(verb)

An example of splay is to spread apart the fingers on a hand.

See splay in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb, intransitive verb

to spread out or apart; expand; extend: often with out
to make or be beveled or sloping

Origin: ME splaien, aphetic < displaien, to display

noun

a sloping or beveled surface or angle, as of the side of a doorway
a spreading; expansion; enlargement

Origin: < the v.

adjective

sloping, spreading, or turning outward
broad and flat
awkwardly awry

See splay in American Heritage Dictionary 4

adjective

Spread or turned out.
Clumsy or clumsily formed; awkward.

noun
Architecture

An oblique angle or bevel given to the sides of an opening in a wall so that the opening is wider on one side of the wall than on the other.

verb splayed, splay·ing, splays

verb, transitive

To spread (the limbs, for example) out or apart, especially clumsily.
To make slanting or sloping; bevel.
To dislocate (a bone). Used of an animal.

verb, intransitive

To be spread out or apart.
To slant or slope.

Origin:

Origin: From Middle English splayen, to spread out

Origin: , short for displayen; see display

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