splays

Noun

splay (plural splays)

1. An outward spread of an object such as a bowl or cup.
2. (also, attributive) A bevel, slant, or slope, especially of the frame or jamb of a door or window, by which an opening is made larger at one face of the wall than at the other, or larger at each of the faces than it is between them.
   • The daylight was so lowered by the impervious roof of cloud overhead that it scarcely reached further into Lord Mountclere's entrance-hall than to the splays of the windows, even but an hour or two after midday; […]1876, Thomas Hardy, “Lychworth Court”, in The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 141
3. (also, attributive) The amount of such a bevel, slant, or slope.
4. A widening of a minor road where it forms a junction with a major road to ensure that the view of traffic on the major road by drivers on the minor road is not obstructed.
   • visibility splay
5. The view to the left or right which a driver on a minor road has of traffic on the major road; also, a plan showing this.

See all 18 meanings of splay