Link Centre Dictionary

spray

UK/spɹeɪ/ US/ˈspreɪ/ fairly common slang
noun (6) verb (3)

noun

1.
2.

a dispenser that turns a liquid (such as perfume) into a fine spray

Synonyms
3.

a quantity of small objects flying through the air

  • “a spray of bullets”
Synonyms
4.

flower arrangement consisting of a single branch or shoot bearing flowers and foliage

5.

water in small drops in the atmosphere; blown from waves or thrown up by a waterfall

6.

a jet of vapor

verb

1.

be discharged in sprays of liquid

  • “Water sprayed all over the floor”
2.

scatter in a mass or jet of droplets

  • “spray water on someone”
  • “spray paint on the wall”
3.

cover by spraying with a liquid

  • “spray the wall with paint”

Origin

From Middle Dutch sprāien, sprayen, spraeyen (“to spray, sprinkle, spread”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sprēwijaną (“to spray, sprinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to sow, scatter”). Cognate with Middle High German spræjen, spræwen (“to squirt, spray, dust, splash, straw”), Danish dialectal språe (“to open up, burst forth”), Swedish dialectal språ (“to sprout, shoot forth, burst”), Norwegian dialectal spra, spræ (“to splash, splatter, spout, burst forth”), Dutch sproeien (“to spray, sprinkle”), German sprühen (“to spray, sparkle”).

Phrases

  • bear spray
  • bidet spray
  • body spray
  • breath spray
  • bug spray
  • capiscum spray
  • capsicum spray
  • cooking spray
  • say it, don't spray it
  • spray and pray

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.