spread
pronunciation
How to pronounce spread in British English:
UK [spred]
How to pronounce spread in American English:
US [spred]
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- Noun:
- process or result of distributing or extending over a wide expanse of space
- a conspicuous disparity or difference as between two figures
- farm consisting of a large tract of land along with facilities needed to raise livestock (especially cattle)
- a haphazard distribution in all directions
- a tasty mixture to be spread on bread or crackers
- a meal that is well prepared and greatly enjoyed
- two facing pages of a book or other publication
- the expansion of a person's girth (especially at middle age)
- decorative cover for a bed
- act of extending over a wider scope or expanse of space or time
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- Verb:
- distribute or disperse widely
- become distributed or widespread
- spread across or over
- spread out or open from a closed or folded state
- cause to become widely known
- become widely known and passed on
- strew or distribute over an area
- move outward
- cover by spreading something over
- distribute over a surface in a layer
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- Adjective:
- distributed or spread over a considerable extent
- prepared or arranged for a meal; especially having food set out
- fully extended in width
Word Origin
- spread
- spread: [OE] Spread is a general West Germanic word, with relatives in German spreiten and Dutch speiden. These point back to a common prehistoric ancestor *spraidjan. Where that came from is not clear, although it may have links with Latin spargere ‘scatter, sprinkle’ (source of English aspersion [16] and sparse [18]) and Greek speírein ‘sow’ (a relative of English sperm, spore, etc).
- spread (v.)
- c. 1200, "to stretch out, to lay out; diffuse, disseminate" (transitive), also "to advance over a wide area" (intransitive); probably from Old English sprædan "to spread, stretch forth, extend" (especially in tosprædan "to spread out," and gesprædung "spreading"), from Proto-Germanic *spreit- (cognates: Danish sprede, Old Swedish spreda, Middle Dutch spreiden, Old High German and German spreiten "to spread"), extended form of PIE root *sper- (4) "to strew" (see sprout (v.)). Reflexive sense of "to be outspread" is from c. 1300; that of "to extend, expand" is attested from mid-14c. Transitive sense of "make (something) wide" is from late 14c. As an adjective from 1510s. Related: Spreading.
- spread (n.)
- 1620s, "act of spreading;" 1690s, "extent or expanse of something," from spread (v.). Meaning "copious meal" dates from 1822; sense of "food for spreading" (butter, jam, etc.) is from 1812. Sense of "bed cover" is recorded from 1848, originally American English. Meaning "degree of variation" is attested from 1929. Meaning "ranch for raising cattle" is attested from 1927.
Example
- 1. Fighting has spread to other kingston slums .
- 2. Mobile phones can also spread learning .
- 3. Violence and pollution are spread even more unequally .
- 4. The currency has been used to spread malware over twitter .
- 5. The rest are spread through the vulnerable periphery economies .