• IPA^(key): /spæt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  • Rhymes: -æt

From Old English spittan, spætan.

spat

1. simple past and past participle of spit

   There was no sink in the room so we spat out the window.

   If I had known you had a spittoon in the corner I would never have spat on the floor.

Uncertain; perhaps related to spit.

spat (countable and uncountable, plural spats)

1. The spawn of shellfish, especially oysters and similar molluscs.
   • 2005, TVR Pillay, MN Kutty, Aquaculture: Principles and practices, page 525:

     As spat-fall often occurs in areas away from environments suitable for oyster growing, the collection, transport and sale of oyster spat has developed into a separate industry.

   • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 243:

     But Orata’s oysters were, like the dormice and fish, collected in the wild, as spat.

2. A juvenile shellfish which has attached to a hard surface.
   • 2011, The Pearl Oyster‎, page 256:

     Conditions in pearl oyster hatcheries are optimized for growth and survival of spat.

   • 1988, Bivalve Mollusc Culture Research in Thailand‎, page 28:

     If the spat are allowed to remain attached to the tank bottom for more than two days, they are difficult to remove without damage to the shell.

spat (third-person singular simple present spats, present participle spatting, simple past and past participle spatted)

1. (ambitransitive) To spawn, used of shellfish as above.

Shortening of spatterdash, from spatter + dash. 1779.

spat (plural spats)

2. (often in the plural) A covering or decorative covering worn over a shoe.

   Coordinate term: gaiter

3. (automotive, UK, Australia) A piece of bodywork that covers the upper portions of the rear tyres of a car.

   Synonym: (US) fender skirt

4. (aviation) A drag-reducing aerodynamic fairing covering the upper portions of the tyres of an aeroplane equipped with non-retractable landing gear.

1804. American English, probably imitative.

spat (plural spats)

1. A brief argument, falling out, quarrel.

   get into a trivial spat over punctuality

   have a vicious spat with the cousins

   • 2017 January 14, “Some Thais worry that a lasting power struggle is brewing. Others see a minor spat over language, which will quickly be forgotten.”, in The Economist‎:
   • 2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32:

     The downside of this cost-saving strategy was that the train service could only be covered by goodwill. Whenever there was a spat between ASLEF and management - regardless of cause - the withdrawal of this goodwill became a stick with which unions could beat management.

spat (third-person singular simple present spats, present participle spatting, simple past and past participle spatted)

1. (originally US, intransitive) To quarrel or argue pettily briefly.

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Spat”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.

Attested from 1823.

spat (plural spats)

1. A light blow with something flat.

spat (third-person singular simple present spats, present participle spatting, simple past and past participle spatted)

1. (transitive and intransitive) To strike with a spattering sound.
   • 1922, B. M. Bower, chapter 3, in The Trail of the White Mule:

     He felt the wind of a second bullet that spatted against a boulder near Barney.

   • 2007 July 13, Nolan Clay, “Co-workers testify about Kelsey's mother”, in Daily Oklahoman, retrieved 25 Aug. 2009:

     "She mentioned she had spatted Kelsey on her diaper with a hairbrush," said Mildred Johnson, a co-worker.

2. (US, dialect) To slap, as with the open hand; to clap together, as the hands.
   • 1845, Sylvester Judd, Margaret:

     Little Isabel leaped up and down, spatting her hands.

From Latin spatium (“space”).

spat (plural spats)

1. An obsolete unit of distance in astronomy (symbol S), equal to one billion kilometres.

• ATSP, PTSA, TAPs, past, ap'ts, PATs, Apts, TAPS, PSAT, taps, APTs, apts., ATPs, TPAs, ptas., Pats, stap, PTAs, pats, APTS, apts, Taps

From Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

spat

1. four

From Middle Low German spat. Compare German Spat and Swedish spatt.

• IPA^(key): /spat/,

spat c (singular definite spatten, not used in plural form)

1. spavin (disease of horses characterized by a bony swelling developed on the hock as the result of inflammation of the bones)
2. få spat – get annoyed or angry

• spattet

• IPA^(key): /spɑt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: spat
• Rhymes: -ɑt

From Middle Dutch spat.

spat m (plural spatten)

1. (obsolete) blowgun

   Synonyms: blaaspijp, blaasroer

From spatten.

spat m (plural spatten, diminutive spatje n)

1. spot, speckle, stain

• bloedspat

• → Papiamentu: spat

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

spat

1. inflection of spatten:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

• past, stap, taps

• IPA^(key):

spat

1. supine of spaś

spat

1. alternative form of spȁti
   • 1993, Vinko Coce, “Mirno spavaj, ružo moja”:

     cili Trogir ide spat

     the whole City of Trogir goes to sleep

spat

1. (colloquial) definite singular of spad

From Proto-Atayalic *səpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

spat

1. four