splay
splayed; splays; splaying
To splay is to spread out or widen. Peacocks splay their feathers when they want to show off. Basketball players splay their fingers around a basketball to get a better grip.
The word splay is often seen as splayed. If you collapse on your bed with your arms and legs stretched out, you are splayed out on the bed. Fingers, toes, arms, and legs can all splay. Something that has a splayed shape is called a splay, like an architectural detail around a window or door. Splay comes from the verb display, originally "unfurl, unfold, or spread out."
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spread open or apart“He splayed his huge hands over the table”
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type of:
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open, spread, spread out, unfold
spread out or open from a closed or folded state
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open, spread, spread out, unfold
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turn outward“These birds can splay out their toes”
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synonyms:
rotate, spread out, turn out
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type of:
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turn
change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense
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turn
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move out of position
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an outward bevel around a door or window that makes it seem larger
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turned outward in an ungainly manner“splay knees”
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Synonyms:
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splayfoot, splayfooted
having feet that turn outward
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splayfoot, splayfooted
Vocabulary lists containing splay
When eleven-year-old Tokunbo Marshall moves with her mother into a Harlem brownstone, she must adjust to an extended family that includes three new sisters who see everything in life as a possible project in their self-designed education.
Based on a true World War II story, this novel details how, as a teenager, Stefania Podgórska managed to take care of her younger sister, while hiding and supporting Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland.
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