Sputtering

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sputter \Sput"ter\ (sp[u^]t"t[~e]r), v. i. [imp. & p. p.
     {Sputtered} (-t[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Sputtering}.] [From
     the root of spout or spit to eject from the mouth. Cf.
     {Splutter}.]
     1. To spit, or to emit saliva from the mouth in small,
        scattered portions, as in rapid speaking.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To utter words hastily and indistinctly; to speak so
        rapidly as to emit saliva.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They could neither of them speak their rage, and so
              fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting
              apples.                               --Congreve.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a
        noise like that made by one sputtering.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Like the green wood . . . sputtering in the flame.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sputtering
       adj : emitting or making sporadic spitting or popping sounds; "the
             sputtering engine"; "spluttering electric arcs" [syn: {spluttering}]
       n : the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively;
           "he heard a spatter of gunfire" [syn: {spatter}, {spattering},
            {splatter}, {splattering}, {sputter}, {splutter}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  24 Moby Thesaurus words for "sputtering":
     beating, clicking, dancing, desultory, drumming, flickering,
     flickery, flicky, fluttering, fluttery, guttering, palpitant,
     pounding, spattering, spluttering, sputtery, staccato, throbbing,
     thrumming, thumping, ticking, unsteady, wavering, wavery