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scatter
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
scatter
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
ashes were scattered
▪ His ashes were scattered at sea.
be scattered over a wide area
▪ Parts of the plane were scattered over a wide area.
scatter cushion
scattered wreckage
▪ The equipment was used to clear the scattered wreckage of the two trains.
wreckage is strewn/scattered/spread
▪ The wreckage was strewn over a large area.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
▪ She recognized none of the hangings, the furniture, the instruments scattered about.
▪ Coal carried by the freight train was scattered about in heaps.
▪ The marble floor was scattered about with individual rugs.
▪ The lifts are scattered about, and each one serves only selected floors.
▪ She went back out into the daylight and began to gather together some of the larger rocks that were scattered about.
▪ There was blood everywhere and fragments of bone, scattered about like chips of chalk in the puddles.
▪ Empty black plastic sacks are scattered about, together with piles of crumpled brown paper.
around
▪ There was blood all over the floor and rings scattered around.
▪ Strange-colored tailings ponds and old, rusted equipment are scattered around.
▪ Vern made for a bench in a concrete space with trees and shrubs scattered around in pots, and sat down.
▪ The worn, faded furniture, the dingy wallpaper, the papers scattered around, the smell of alcohol.
▪ Second-hand machinery was scattered around the yard with new parts and modifications arriving daily.
▪ But each one had actually hit one of the few rocks scattered around.
▪ There were plenty of books and magazines scattered around, but none seemed to relate to any academic studies she could identify.
everywhere
▪ Bits of wire and tin were scattered everywhere.
▪ These men were scattered everywhere, on the ground and also in buildings and tents.
▪ But what he had taken at first for raindrops on the wagon floor were actually pennies, halfpennies and farthings scattered everywhere.
▪ Waves up to 30 feet tore away the beachfront of the Huatulco Sheraton and other bays, leaving tree limbs scattered everywhere.
▪ There were huge gouges where the earth had been scooped out, and dirt scattered everywhere.
▪ Fresh gray dirt was scattered everywhere as evidence of our work.
▪ Books, letters, clothes, scattered everywhere.
▪ There are huge amounts of rubbish scattered everywhere and that is appalling.
over
▪ Although parts were scattered over the surrounding fields, the main body of the plane had landed in one piece.
▪ The basins are scattered over 20,000 square miles and fed by underground rivers which extend through Nevada, Utah and California.
▪ Chunks of blue-green stuff flaked off and scattered over the floor.
▪ It's called Oxford Artweek, it lasts a fortnight and has 200 sites scattered over the county.
▪ Stir in the parsley, then spoon into a serving dish and scatter over the remaining spring onions.
▪ It will have to serve more people scattered over a larger area.
▪ He has one of them, the remaining four having been scattered over the planet for security.
widely
▪ The rocks were widely scattered in the process.
▪ Occasionally, the only possible controls are widely scattered or are unlikely to cooperate with a program that offers nothing in return.
▪ Most of our countries are very small and are widely scattered.
■ NOUN
area
▪ It will have to serve more people scattered over a larger area.
▪ Thirty-seven golf courses are scattered about the area.
▪ Natural resources were scattered over vast areas.
▪ At the other end of the scale of desirability are thinly scattered customers in remote areas, and those in poor neighbourhoods.
▪ A motley collection of tawdry items was scattered over an area at least four feet square.
▪ All windows were blown out and large pieces of metal and wood were scattered over a wide area.
▪ The police are scattered around the area with several pairs of squad cars and at least three Black Marias.
ash
▪ The New Zealanders, appropriately garbed in funereal black, arrive next week to scatter the ashes.
▪ There was initially an extreme reluctance to scatter the ashes.
▪ Some churches are happy to scatter the ashes in the graveyard or bury them according to the family's wishes.
▪ And his family are hoping to scatter Mr Corbett's ashes at Anfield, where his father Dennis also came to rest.
▪ The weather had turned a chill grey, and a brisk wind scattered the ashes of half-a-hundred fires.
country
▪ Over eighty-five percent of these are scattered throughout the country in small villages and hamlets.
▪ The nuclear arsenal of the former Soviet Union was scattered among four new countries with few safeguards.
▪ There have been scattered strikes around the country, but this was by far the largest.
▪ Other transplant colonies are scattered throughout the country in places such as Alamos, Sonora and Puerto Vallarta.
▪ The rest are scattered throughout the country.
field
▪ Although parts were scattered over the surrounding fields, the main body of the plane had landed in one piece.
▪ They drove off the parliamentarians they scattered across the field.
floor
▪ Chunks of blue-green stuff flaked off and scattered over the floor.
▪ Bud Simmons got up, scattering recipes to the floor, and spoke in a low voice to Harry Nelson.
▪ He then scattered it on pub floors or gave it to friends to buy drugs.
▪ As the cut tresses lay scattered on the floor by the chair, Heather scrutinized the effect in the mirror.
▪ The cigarettes scattered all around the floor.
▪ Basins and buckets were scattered on the floor next to boxes of plastic bags and rubber bands.
▪ The contents of all of them had been pulled out and scattered all over the floor.
▪ She didn't care that the clothes he had flung out of the night before were scattered on floor and chairs.
ground
▪ The diplomat proceeded to scatter crumbs on the ground and attract the attentions of sparrows and pigeons.
▪ Only a few blocks of white stone lay scattered on the ground in front of the Buddhas' huge niches.
▪ It smashed, and machinery scattered over the ground.
light
▪ A few scattered lights burned on the ridge of low hills as he arrived in the cove, long after nightfall.
▪ Finally, without scattered light or atmosphere to conduct and convect energy, shadow areas on the Moon are extremely cold.
▪ It takes more particles to scatter red light.
seed
▪ As the sun strikes their heads it plays for a while, scatters silver seed and dances away again, unnoticed.
▪ It spreads by roots and by a scattering of its seeds.
wind
▪ Eloise would be burnt and scattered to the winds, the evil dispersed, spread out, diluted.
▪ Today that team breaks up and scatters to the winds like a dandelion.
▪ Tonight, scatter half into the wind to the north, the south, the east and the west.
world
▪ The stuff is scattered all over the world, but it's coming.
▪ But the job losses will hit mostly sales and support staffs scattered throughout the world.
▪ The World Distribution of Volcanoes Volcanoes are not scattered randomly around the world.
▪ Sanderson, now 36, scattered her World Cup opponents in the opening round, launching a throw of 61.86 metres.
■ VERB
break
▪ The sea is potentially very destructive, with underwater remains being broken and scattered by currents, waves, or tidal action.
▪ The ice breaks, scattering water birds.
▪ Today that team breaks up and scatters to the winds like a dandelion.
▪ For a while he stood on the soft sand, watching the waves break and the sandpipers scatter under them.
lie
▪ Only a few blocks of white stone lay scattered on the ground in front of the Buddhas' huge niches.
▪ Today the last condor nests lie scattered on the ledges, and the last three birds left in the wild are males.
▪ They lay scattered here and there all over the yard, in the corn-house, smoke-house, and slave shanties.
▪ Their wounded had been generally removed, while the dead lay thickly scattered in all directions and positions.
▪ Plates and barbells lie scattered in lazy profusion.
▪ As the cut tresses lay scattered on the floor by the chair, Heather scrutinized the effect in the mirror.
▪ Empty gasoline containers lay scattered around her.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a scattering of sth
▪ Its only feature was a scattering of red shale; as a reaction I began to superimpose pictures.
▪ Now all that remains are slowly rotting stumps and a scattering of 20-to 30-year-old suckers.
▪ Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich even drew a scattering of boos.
▪ The character of most parks depends substantially on a scattering of trees - whether individually or in clumps.
▪ There was a scattering of greenhouses on the site, a few more wooden sheds, and several pigeon coops.
▪ Today they exist in a scattering of settlements on the outskirts of Phoenix and Tucson.
▪ When he let loose the light chain, he located himself in a scattering of white papers.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ At the sound of gunfire, the crowd scattered in all directions.
▪ Soldiers used tear gas to scatter the crowd.
▪ The demonstrators suddenly turned and scattered in all directions.
▪ The storm scattered tiles everywhere.
▪ There was a sudden crack of gunfire, and the crowd scattered.
▪ When a police van drove by, the boys scattered.
▪ Why don't you scatter a few cushions around the room?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And there may be a few scattered works where applause would just feel wrong.
▪ I suppose they were rallying the scattered army.
▪ Small Whites scatter through the flowery headlands and in this light seem to have an almost violet glow about them.
▪ The central green had cars scattered all around it.
▪ Then they scattered, stopping to read in the middle of Congress Street one name and then the other.
▪ Today the last condor nests lie scattered on the ledges, and the last three birds left in the wild are males.
▪ Valleys in the Yorkshire Dales are scattered with dozens of these field barns, virtually all disused.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Scatter

Scatter \Scat"ter\, v. i. To be dispersed or dissipated; to disperse or separate; as, clouds scatter after a storm.

Scatter

Scatter \Scat"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scattered; p. pr. & vb. n. Scattering.] [OE. scateren. See Shatter.]

  1. To strew about; to sprinkle around; to throw down loosely; to deposit or place here and there, esp. in an open or sparse order.

    And some are scattered all the floor about.
    --Chaucer.

    Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?
    --Dryden.

    Teach the glad hours to scatter, as they fly, Soft quiet, gentle love, and endless joy.
    --Prior.

  2. To cause to separate in different directions; to reduce from a close or compact to a loose or broken order; to dissipate; to disperse.

    Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths.
    --Shak.

  3. Hence, to frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow; as, to scatter hopes, plans, or the like.

    Syn: To disperse; dissipate; spread; strew.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
scatter

mid-12c. (transitive), possibly a northern English variant of Middle English schateren (see shatter), reflecting Norse influence. Intransitive sense from early 15c. Related: Scattered; scattering. As a noun from 1640s.

Wiktionary
scatter

vb. 1 (context ergative English) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse. 2 (context transitive English) To distribute loosely as by sprinkle. 3 (context transitive physics English) To deflect (radiation or particles). 4 (context intransitive English) To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals. 5 To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow.

Related phrases:
WordNet
scatter

  1. v. to cause to separate and go in different directions; "She waved her hand and scattered the crowds" [syn: disperse, dissipate, dispel, break up]

  2. move away from each other; "The crowds dispersed"; "The children scattered in all directions when the teacher approached"; [syn: disperse, dissipate, spread out]

  3. distribute loosely; "He scattered gun powder under the wagon" [syn: sprinkle, dot, dust, disperse]

  4. sow by scattering; "scatter seeds"

  5. cause to separate; "break up kidney stones"; "disperse particles" [syn: break up, disperse]

  6. strew or distribute over an area; "He spread fertilizer over the lawn"; "scatter cards across the table" [syn: spread, spread out]

scatter

  1. n. a haphazard distribution in all directions [syn: spread]

  2. the act of scattering [syn: scattering, strewing]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Scatter

In ordinary English, to scatter is to distribute randomly. Scatter also has the following meanings:

  • In physics, scattering is the study of collisions, especially of waves and particles (synonymous in quantum mechanics). In elastic scattering the objects are changed only in their motion, while in inelastic scattering the collision causes some change or produces a new object.
  • In statistics, scatter is a synonym for dispersion.
  • Scatter (modeling) or flock is a substance used in the building of dioramas and model railways to simulate the effect of grass, poppies, fireweed, track ballast and other scenic ground cover. Scatter actually refers to one of two substances: simulated track ballast, which is fine-grained ground granite; and coloured grass which is usually tinted sawdust, wood chips or ground foam.
  • In parallel computing a scatter operation sends data from one process to all other processes in a group. However, in contrast to broadcasting, the sending process can transmit different packages to each receiving process.
  • Scatter was the name of a chimpanzee owned by Elvis Presley.
Scatter (band)

Scatter are an improvisational collective, based in Glasgow. Their music is heavily influenced by jazz and folk (releases have included versions of folk standards).

The membership of the group is fluid, and Scatter has contained up to nine musicians at points, featuring cornet, flute, megaphone, drums, bouzouki, guitar, trombone, saxophone, upright bass, and harmonium, among the instrument used. Members have included Rebecca Ashton, Martin Beer, Kenneth Broom, Matt Cairns, Chris Hladowski, Nick McCarthy, Alex Neilson, Stephanie Hladowski, Oliver Neilson, Morag Wilson, Aby Vulliamy, George Murray and Hanna Tuulikki. The band has been on indefinite hiatus for the past several years, and no future performances are currently scheduled.

Scatter have released music on the Pickled Egg Records, Cenotaph, and Blank Tapes record labels.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "scatter".

Like a glow-worm golden In a dell of dew, Scattering unbeholden Its aereal hue Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view!

Now was obviously the time to fuse all those scattered scraps of aeronautical information into real understanding.

All he could see were people afoot, and they were scattering before his charge.

The undefeated hosts of Tlapallan, the terrible disciplined array that conquered the irregular scattered tribes of Alata and stole the best lands in a continent!

Thero glared at Alec for an instant, then began gathering his scattered documents.

Spilled coals were scattered across the paving slabs and atop the rumpled velvet, burning holes in the rich pile, and the glass alembic was now a jagged splash of greenish shards.

On his table were scattered a litter of amphipods and copepods with specimens of Valella, Ianthina, Physalia, and a hundred other creatures whose smell was by no means as attractive as their appearance.

He wandered up the aisles and activated the homely presence of the woman who served the dozen or so anachronistic places that were still scattered around Paris.

There are scattered citizens of the Commonwealth who trace their ethnic ancestry back to a people knows as the Jews.

Bells rang, the stewards rushed forward, and- like rye shaken together in a shovel- the guests who had been scattered about in different rooms came together and crowded in the large drawing room by the door of the ballroom.

At length they reached a round chamber, some fifty feet across, scattered with low tables and tiny benches round a central open hearth, where a low fire burned and a huge kettle hung from a pair of andirons and a cross-bar.

Beautiful rocky cliffs, full of caves, enclosed a little beach of colored pebbles, and then a strip of golden sand scattered over with rocks that held pools full of scarlet sea anemonies, and shells, and colored seaweeds like satin ribbon.

Cushions and bedclothes were scattered everywhere, colourful animatic dolls waddled around, either laughing or repeating their catch phrases.

When we put him away off in the apse, and set him up for a Goth, and then seat ourselves at a distance, scattered about among the pillars, the whole thing seems to me a trifle unnatural.

At this time the symbiotic race consisted of an immense host of arachnoid adventurers scattered over many planets, and a company of some fifty thousand million super-ichthyoids living a life of natatory delight and intense mental activity in the ocean of their great native world.