splaying

Verb

splay (third-person singular simple present splays, present participle splaying, simple past and past participle splayed)

1. (transitive) To spread, spread apart, or spread out (something); to expand.
   • Thiſſame ſo great a chaunge of the world, begoonne within a fewe yeares after Chriſt was putte to death, to be made generall and common through al the whold worlde, and withoute any maintenaunce or ſupportacion of mã [man], it encreaced from tyme to tyme ſtill more and more, vntyll the piece of...1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The Preface of Erasmus vnto His Paraphrase vpon the Ghospell of Luke. Unto...

   Synonyms:

   broaden, display, widen

2. (transitive) To construct a bevel or slope on (something, such as the frame or jamb of a door or window); to bevel, to slant, to slope.
   • When entrance and egress [through a door] are constant, it may be supposed that the valves will be absent or unfastened,—that people will be passing more quickly than when the entrance and egress are unfrequent, and that the square angles of the wall will be inconvenient to such quick passers...1851, John Ruskin, “Form of Aperture”, in The Stones of Venice, volume I (The Foundations), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § IV, page 170
3. (transitive) To rearrange (a splay tree) so that a desired element is placed at the root.
4. (transitive) To dislocate (a body part such as a shoulder bone).
5. (obsolete, transitive) To unfurl or unroll (a banner or flag).
   • Ye grounde yow vpon Godfrey, that grysly gargons face, / Your stondarde, Syr Olifranke, agenst me for to splay: […]a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Poems against Garnesche”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page...

   Synonyms:

   display

6. (intransitive) To have, or lie in, an oblique or slanted position.

See all 18 meanings of splay