Word.ws English Dictionary

splatterdash

splatterdash noun: an uproar. Also the alternative form of spatterdash.

Noun

splatterdash (plural splatterdashes)

  1. An uproar.
    • Spluttersmash and splatterdash! In the shallow pools they splash, Like two wrestlers closing! Long they fight and twist and turn, But the race is over1892, Robert Williams Buchanan, The Buchanan Ballads, Old and New, page 87
    • Gas will have its share of the business going during June next, and without making any splatterdash about supplying at low prices.1911 March 14, “Electricity Supply Memoranda”, in The Journal of Gas Lighting, Water Supply & Sanitary Improvement, volume 113, page 756
  2. A work (of art, literature, etc.) that gives the appearance of having been created in a haphazard, chaotic manner.
    • We landed and again possessed the isle in force[…]We found there was yet dispute of our ascendancy, five great canoes coming bow out[…]No soft garments now, not yet mere nakedness, but a splatterdash of color beyond any rainbow that ever was[…]"What is that?" queried a maiden huskily. "As I live...1892, W. H. Babcock, chapter 12, in The Brides of the Tiger, pages 162–163
    • The absurd splatterdash which the Mage painted while blindfolded had nothing of Thibetan architecture about it, but resembled a ruined castle on the Rhine.1906, Henry Evans, The Old and the New Magic
  3. A spangle; a sparkly decoration.
    • When a member of the Governor's Footguards of Connecticut was parading with the company, his son stood at the gate with his mother, and as they flashed by in their splatterdash finery, he said: "Oh, ma, ain't they grand; and see, everybody is out of step but father."1928, James Schermerhorn, Schermerhorn's Stories, page 155
    • The program is a 28-page booklet printed on a cream-colored paper with gold splatterdash, and with a French-fold cover of blue and gold.1937, Eastern Star News, page 5
  4. (plural-normally) Spatterdashes.
    • He wore a black coat, rather worn than old, which hung in tatters, a very fine but dirty shirt, frayed ruffles; a pair of splatterdashes so large that he could have put both legs into either of them, and, to secure himself from the snow, a little hat, only fit to be carried under his arm.1769, Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau
    • Here Gabriele was awaiting the arrival of her lover, and hastening to welcome him the moment he alighted from his steed, stood by his side, while the pages removed his sword, spurs, and splatterdashes.1845, Albert Henry Payne, Payne's Royal Dresden Gallery, page 98
  5. A warrior.
    • They also painted their faces, and, according to Wood, imprinted figures with a searing iron upon their bodies; perhaps, as he suggests, "to blazon their antique Gentilitie," for, he says, "a sagamore with a Humberd in his eare for a pendant, a black hawke on his occiput for his plume, Mowhackees...1892, James P. Baxter, “The Abnakis and Their Ethnic Relations”, in Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society, page 27
    • Alas for the splatterdashes! The unmanageable rebels suddenly seemed to be everywhere at once.1989, Hoghton Tower, page 13

Verb

splatterdash (third-person singular simple present splatterdashes, present participle splatterdashing, simple past and past participle splatterdashed)

  1. To apply a splatterdash coat.
    • Uncle Samuel's house was an old-fashioned one of rough stone, "splatterdashed" with fine pebbles on the outside.1910, William Dudley Foulke, The Quaker Boy, page 53
    • What a cozy little breakfast room — and the wall is so artistically splatterdashed.1930, The Earth Mover - Volume 17, page 19
  2. To affix splatterdashes to.
    • "I could splatterdash it for you," she said. "We used to wear daub-stick cottons when I was a girl, and we thought them pretty fine."1959, Children's Activities - Volume 25, page 9
  3. To splash violently; to splatter with water and/or mud.
    • How he found himself stepping up when he was told to step down, down when he was told to step up; how he passed through a long box against a cold sponge splatterdashed in his face; how he opened his astonished eyes to see the knife of the guillotine descending on his innocent neck; how he was...1871 June, “A Cat in a Strange Garret”, in The Yale Literary Magazine, volume 36, number 320, page 402
    • “Dat frisky li'l nigger suah will be splatterdashed ef he fall offen dat mule's back !” And indeed it did look bad for the small colored boy.1921, Laura Lee Hope, Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South, page 93

Also used as

splatterdash is also the alternative form of spatterdash.

Examples of splatterdash in a sentence

  • All the doubtful state forces swelled the anti-Seward splatterdash.1971, William Eldon Baringer, Lincoln's Rise to Power, page 244:
  • Without a word to me Messrs Burrows Brothers[…]broke it all up into splatterdash.”1974, Waldo Hilary Dunn, quoting R. D. Blackmore, R. D. Blackmore: the author of "Lorna Doone"; a biography, page 242:
  • The lecturers are expert on lecturing on the subject, but they offer the splatterdash method of disseminating information with no point of view of their own.1982, Hubert Ingram Bermont, The Complete Consultant: A Roadmap to Success, page 9:
  • Sometimes he also wore splatterdashes, especially if he was on a horse.1974 October, “A Pilgrim from Head to Toe”, in Boys' Life, volume 64, number 10, page 45:

Forms of splatterdash

Noun
pluralsplatterdashes
Verb
third-person singular presentsplatterdashes
present participlesplatterdashing
past participlesplatterdashed
pastsplatterdashed

Origin of splatterdash

From splatter + dash. In the "haphazard work" sense, perhaps influenced by slapdash.

Questions about splatterdash

What does splatterdash mean?
Splatterdash means an uproar.
How do you use splatterdash in a sentence?
All the doubtful state forces swelled the anti-Seward splatterdash.
What part of speech is splatterdash?
Splatterdash can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of splatterdash?
The plural of splatterdash is splatterdashes.

Words near splatterdash in the dictionary

  1. splatter guns
  2. splatter platter
  3. splatter platters
  4. splatter-gun
  5. splatter-guns
  6. splatterdash
  7. splatterdashed
  8. splatterdashes
  9. splatterdashing
  10. splatterday
  11. splatterdock

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: splatterdash (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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