SPLUTTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does splutter mean? 

• SPLUTTER (noun)
  The noun SPLUTTER has 2 senses:

1. the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively

2. an utterance (of words) with spitting sounds (as in rage)

  Familiarity information: SPLUTTER used as a noun is rare.

• SPLUTTER (verb)
  The verb SPLUTTER has 2 senses:

1. utter with a spitting sound, as if in a rage

2. spit up in an explosive manner

  Familiarity information: SPLUTTER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPLUTTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

spatter; spattering; splatter; splattering; splutter; sputter; sputtering

Context example:

he heard a spatter of gunfire

Hypernyms ("splutter" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

splutter (utter with a spitting sound, as if in a rage)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An utterance (of words) with spitting sounds (as in rage)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

splutter; sputter

Hypernyms ("splutter" is a kind of...):

utterance; vocalization (the use of uttered sounds for auditory communication)

Derivation:

splutter (utter with a spitting sound, as if in a rage)

• SPLUTTER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they splutter    ... he / she / it splutters   
Past simple: spluttered   
Past participle: spluttered   
-ing form: spluttering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Utter with a spitting sound, as if in a rage

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

splutter; sputter

Hypernyms (to "splutter" is one way to...):

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence examples:

Cars splutter in the streets
The streets splutter with cars

Derivation:

splutter (an utterance (of words) with spitting sounds (as in rage))

splutter (the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spit up in an explosive manner

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

spit out; splutter; sputter

Hypernyms (to "splutter" is one way to...):

cough out; cough up; expectorate; spit out; spit up (discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

The first had not taken three steps ere an arrow from Aylward's bow struck him full in the chest, and he fell coughing and spluttering across the threshold.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Gad, sir! Gad, sir!” spluttered the Skookum Bench king.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Then she would take up another pen, and begin to write, and find that it spluttered.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A log fell apart with a loud spluttering noise.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Sparkling points of light spluttered and shot past me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

So far the letter had run composedly enough, but here with a sudden splutter of the pen, the writer’s emotion had broken loose.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

When my moose-meat spluttered rowdily in the frying-pan, I noticed old Ebbits's nostrils twitch and distend as he caught the food-scent.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

George Merry was at the door, spitting and spluttering over some bad-tasted medicine; but at the first word of the doctor's proposal he swung round with a deep flush and cried “No!” and swore.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Mr. Mugridge was sleepily spluttering that he was a gentleman’s son.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The next, redcap had fallen across the stone with an arrow between his ribs; and the other, struck in the leg and in the throat, was writhing and spluttering upon the ground.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)