sputter

Meanings

Noun

• Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles.
• Confused and hasty speech.

Verb

• To emit saliva or spit from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking.
• To speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly, with a spluttering sound, as in rage.
• To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a noise like that made by one sputtering.
• To cause surface atoms or electrons of a solid to be ejected by bombarding it with heavy atoms or ions.
• To coat the surface of an object by sputtering.

Origin

• Probably representing Middle English *sputren, *sputrien, a frequentative form of Middle English sputen, equivalent to spout + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian spüttern ("to inject, spray, splash"), West Frisian sputterje ("to sputter"), Dutch sputteren ("to sputter"), Low German sputtern, spruttern, German sprudeln ("to spout, squirt"). Compare splutter.