sput·ter

(spŭt′ər)

v. sput·tered, sput·ter·ing, sput·ters

v.intr.

1. To spit out or spray particles of saliva or food from the mouth in noisy bursts.

2. To spit out words or sounds in an excited or confused manner.

3. To make sporadic spitting or popping sounds: The fire sputtered and died.

4. Physics To cause the atoms of a solid to be removed from the surface by bombardment with atoms in a discharge tube.

v.tr.

1. To eject in short bursts with spitting or popping sounds.

2. To utter in an excited or confused manner.

3. Physics To coat (a solid surface) with metal atoms by sputtering.

1. The act or sound of sputtering.

2. Matter emitted in sputtering.

3. Excited or confused utterance.

[Probably of Low German origin; akin to Dutch sputteren.]

sput′ter·er n.

sput′ter·y adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

sputtering - the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively; "he heard a spatter of gunfire"

spatter, spattering, splatter, splattering, splutter, sputter

noise - sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound); "he enjoyed the street noises"; "they heard indistinct noises of people talking"; "during the firework display that ended the gala the noise reached 98 decibels"

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

In his hand he clutched the sputtering candle, and as he took the leap the rush of air extinguished it.

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Let us have a look into that room,' he added, lifting the sputtering candle from the desk.

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Rose could not make out what it was, and her curiosity was greatly excited, for Phebe was writing with a sputtering pen on some bits of brown paper, apparently copying something from a little book.

These, with a small bottle of ink and a rusty pen, made up Phebe's outfit, and it was little wonder that she did not "get on" in spite of the patient persistence that dried the desponding tears and drove along the sputtering pen with a will.

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"I am not going to guess, at five o'clock in the morning, with my brains frying and sputtering in my head.

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A circle of fire hemmed the Victoria in; the crackling of the dry wood mingled with the hissing and sputtering of the green branches; the clambering vines, the foliage, all the living part of this vegetation, writhed in the destructive element.

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A very cheerful wood-fire was sputtering and cracking in an open grate at the further end of the apartment.

The sputtering wood fire threw out a circle of red flickering light which played over the little group of wayfarers, and showed up every line and shadow upon their faces.

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By this time Ambrosch had come to his senses and was sputtering with nosebleed.

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He was white as chalk, the candle he held in his shaking hand was sputtering onto the carpet, and his eyes, petrified with terror, or some such kindred emotion, stared fixedly over my head at a point on the further wall.

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He rose sputtering, and went forward, only to catch another.

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