spray1

[sprey] /spreɪ/
noun
1.
water or other liquid broken up into minute droplets and blown, ejected into, or falling through the air.
2.
a jet of fine particles of liquid, as medicine, insecticide, paint, perfume, etc., discharged from an atomizer or other device for direct application to a surface.
3.
a liquid to be discharged or applied in such a jet.
4.
an apparatus or device for discharging such a liquid.
5.
a quantity of small objects, flying or discharged through the air:
a spray of shattered glass.
verb (used with object)
6.
to scatter in the form of fine particles.
7.
to apply as a spray:
to spray an insecticide on plants.
8.
to sprinkle or treat with a spray:
to spray plants with insecticide.
9.
to direct a spray of particles, missiles, etc., upon:
to spray the mob with tear gas.
verb (used without object)
10.
to scatter spray; discharge a spray:
The hose sprayed over the flowers.
11.
to issue as spray:
The water sprayed from the hose.
Origin
1615-25; < earlier Dutch spraeyen; cognate with Middle High German spræjen
Related forms
sprayable, adjective
sprayability, noun
sprayer, noun
sprayless, adjective
spraylike, adjective
unsprayable, adjective
unsprayed, adjective
well-sprayed, adjective

spray2

[sprey] /spreɪ/
noun
1.
a single, slender shoot, twig, or branch with its leaves, flowers, or berries.
2.
a group or bunch of cut flowers, leafy twigs, etc., arranged decoratively and for display, as in a vase.
3.
an ornament having a similar form.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English; akin to sprag1
Related forms
spraylike, adjective
Examples from the web for spray
  • Each time you spray a standard cleaner on your counter you breathe in a fine mist of harmful chemicals.
  • Water seeded area with a sprinkler set on fine spray or use a garden hose with a mist nozzle.
  • It is using axes to chop frozen spray from wheelhouse and mast before the boat becomes top-heavy and rolls under.
  • Artificial sprinklers were set up to mimic the natural spray of the falls, but they were unreliable.
  • Imagine being alone on the ocean for five or ten weeks, sailing in snow, ice and spray cruel as needles.
  • There are orchids that live on beaches or limestone coral atolls and have adapted to salt spray.
  • But they caution that a tree with tinsel or fake snow spray cannot be recycled.
  • But amid the thundering ten-foot waves and shattering spray, hundreds of northern fur seals played with nimble abandon.
  • Mosquitoes swarm at night, and nobody has come to spray with insecticide.
  • It begins chattering and leaping, breaking into a thousand ripples, throwing up joyful fingers of spray.
British Dictionary definitions for spray

spray1

/spreɪ/
noun
1.
fine particles of a liquid
2.
  1. a liquid, such as perfume, paint, etc, designed to be discharged from an aerosol or atomizer: hair spray
  2. the aerosol or atomizer itself
3.
a quantity of small objects flying through the air: a spray of bullets
verb
4.
to scatter (liquid) in the form of fine particles
5.
to discharge (a liquid) from an aerosol or atomizer
6.
(transitive) to treat or bombard with a spray: to spray the lawn
Derived Forms
sprayer, noun
Word Origin
C17: from Middle Dutch sprāien; related to Middle High German spræjen

spray2

/spreɪ/
noun
1.
a single slender shoot, twig, or branch that bears buds, leaves, flowers, or berries, either growing on or detached from a plant
2.
a small decorative bouquet or corsage of flowers and foliage
3.
a piece of jewellery designed to resemble a spray of flowers, leaves, etc
Word Origin
C13: of Germanic origin; compare Old English sprǣc young shoot, Old Norse sprek brittle wood, Old High German sprahhula splinter
Word Origin and History for spray
v.

"sprinkle liquid in drops," 1520s, from Middle Dutch sprayen, from Proto-Germanic *spræwjanan (cf. German sprühen "to sparkle, drizzle," Spreu "chaff," literally "that which flies about"), from PIE root *sper- "to sow, scatter" (see sprout (v.)). The noun is attested from 1620s. Spray-painting is from 1902; spray-paint (v.) is from 1928.

n.

"small branch," c.1300, possibly related to Old English spræc "shoot, twig" (see sprig).

spray in Medicine

spray (sprā)
n.
A fine jet of liquid discharged from a pressurized container. v. sprayed, spray·ing, sprays
To disperse a liquid in a jet of droplets.

spray in Technology

networking
A Unix command that sends packets to a host and reports performance statistics. The number of packets, delay between packets and packet length can all be specified. The spray command uses the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol to send a one-way stream of packets to the sprayd daemon on the given host. With the "-i" option, spray uses the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) instead of RPC. Normally these will be echoed automatically, creating a return stream.
Unix manual page: spray(1M).
(2007-03-12)