Word.ws English Dictionary

spattle

spattle noun: a spatula.

Noun (1)

spattle (plural spattles)

  1. A spatula.
    • [Mix the] cream with an ice "spattle." When the cream gets to be of a certain consistency, the spattle may be held firmly in the freezer, which is to be spun round by means of the fingers on the rim until the whole becomes frozen hard. A good[…]1883, The Coffee public-house news, page 67
    • […] occasionally sprinkle a handful of salt on the ice while freezing, give a few turns and work it down smooth with the spattle; then turn until the cream is frozen even and smooth all through.1899, John Blandy, The Bakers' Guide and Practical Assistant to the Art of Bread Making in All Its Branches, page 211
  2. A tool or implement for mottling pottery with colour.

Verb (1)

spattle (third-person singular simple present spattles, present participle spattling, simple past and past participle spattled)

  1. (dated) To stir (something, typically ice cream) with a spattle (spatula).
    • Ice Creams. Put your cream in the freezing pot, set it in a tub, beat ice small and mix salt with it, put it round your freezer and turn it round, as it freezes spattle it down, if not hard set it again, serve it up in glasses[…]1815, Thomas BURFORD, The Friendly Instructor, Or Complete Guide to the Arts of Cookery, Confectionery, Pastry, Preserving, &c, page 27
    • The mixture is now ready for freezing, and should be poured into the freezer previously set up, and well spattled which it is freezing to give a fine smooth ice.1928, David Ellis, Dugald Campbell, The Science and Practice of Confectionery, page 215

Noun (2)

spattle

  1. Spawl; spittle.
    • ... he mingleth earthe and his spattle toguether, and smereth the eyes, eares, and nosethrilles of the childe.1888 [1555], The fardle of facions [by Joannes Boemus, tr. by W. Waterman from book 1 and 2 of Omnium gentium mores], page 81

Verb (2)

spattle (third-person singular simple present spattles, present participle spattling, simple past and past participle spattled)

  1. (uncommon) To spit.
    • I can worke wyles in battle, If I do ones but spattle1538, John Bale, Comedy concenynge thre lawes
    • I would I had a fountain of spittle to spattle on them : I would my spittle might be of so great virtue against them as the words of St Paul[…]1842 [1554], John Philpot, The Examinations and Writings of John Philpot ..., page 313

Noun (3)

spattle (plural spattles)

  1. A small spate; a slight inundation or a sprinkle of rain.
    • The caal^([sic]) or dam of Bankend-Mill, (Fact 12,) pens the water […] consequently, if this were removed, and the channel above widened and deepended, […] the water might be reduced in dry seasons 4 feet within bank, which would render the meadows more firm and dry, and carry off small spattles of...1812, Dr. Singer (William), Board of Agriculture (Great Britain), General View of the Agriculture, State of Property, and Improvements, in the County of Dumfries ..., page 496
    • Both painters abjure movement—no blustery clouds or spattles of rain, few running or jumping humans. To be sure, dancers and horse-persons people Luke's "The Rehearsal" (1950, commissioned by Hewitt) but they are closer to figures in the mediaeval Bayeux Tapestry,[…]2015 September 10, W. J. McCormack, Northman: John Hewitt (1907-87): An Irish writer, his world, and his times, OUP Oxford, →ISBN

Verb (3)

spattle (third-person singular simple present spattles, present participle spattling, simple past and past participle spattled)

  1. (uncommon) To sprinkle or spatter; to mottle.
    • The windows […] were all shatter'd: about a foot square of the foundation seemed as if ramm'd in with a force that spattled the dirt as high as the Cornish : […]1910, Shropshire Parish Register Society, Shropshire Parish Registers: Diocese of St. Aspah, page 487
    • ... spattled with nicotine, and measled with pricks from his hypodermic syringe.2015, Otto Penzler, The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories, Pantheon, →ISBN, page 432

Forms of spattle

Noun
pluralspattles
Verb
third-person singular presentspattles
present participlespattling
past participlespattled
pastspattled

Origin of spattle

From Middle English spatyll, spatyl, spatule, from Old French spatule, espatule, from Late Latin spatula.

Words formed from spattle

Questions about spattle

What does spattle mean?
Spattle means a spatula.
What part of speech is spattle?
Spattle can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of spattle?
The plural of spattle is spattles.

Words near spattle in the dictionary

  1. spatters
  2. spatterware
  3. spatterwork
  4. spattery
  5. spatting
  6. spattle
  7. spattled
  8. spattles
  9. spattling
  10. spatula
  11. spatulae

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spattle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “spattle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spattle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.