Scatter \Scat"ter\, v. i. To be dispersed or dissipated; to disperse or separate; as, clouds scatter after a storm.
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.
The problem of disposing of the dead, even those who are cremated, has become so severe that one central Chinese city, the scenic lake city of Hangzhou, has urged its residents to scatter the ashes of the dead in a local river.
They contend an accident a Challenger-like explosion could scatter radioactive material over Florida.
Most of the remaining inventory is sold quarterly in the so-called scatter market.
Now the company is about to scatter even more wealth in his direction, this time through its proposal to go private.
It has hired an exterminator to scatter poisoned seed at its assembly plant in west Forth Worth.
Perhaps the scatter of winners and losers in September's interim reporting season will provide the clues.
The delay came after a judge cleared the way for liftoff by rejecting environmentalists' fears that the shuttle's nuclear-powered Gallileo space probe could scatter plutonium over Florida in the event of a Challenger-like accident.
At first sight His massive canvas, 'Autumn Spinney' might appear dour but then reveals its lyrical quality, a season simplified by the painter's eye into branches, a scatter of red berries and silver streaks of frost.
Financial-services companies figure that the way to a customer is through the mailbox, not through TV ads that scatter a message on barren and fertile ground alike.
Acousticians have learned how to shape walls that scatter sound in the fashion of three-dimensional wall surfaces.
Police did not interfere with the ceremony but fired water cannons and tear gas to scatter demonstrators who tried to march downtown.
Rain showers and thunderstorms were to scatter from the Gulf Coast region to the middle Mississippi Valley and the central Plains.
In one case, a contractor was being cited for transporting wine tanks by helicopter from a winery in San Jose, Calif., without removing asbestos insulation pads, causing asbestos particles to scatter over miles of countryside.
There was Jesse Helms one recent night, rolling one of his trademark legislative hand grenades down the aisle of the United States Senate and waiting cannily to watch his colleagues scatter in fear.
Both supporters and opponents of Buchi skirmished briefly with police at the end of the demonstration, and authorities used water cannon to scatter the crowds from downtown streets.
Some tree species need fire to burst cones and scatter seeds. Seeds germinate into fledgling trees.