different between scatter vs scutter

English

Etymology

From Middle English scateren, skateren, (also schateren, see shatter), from Old English *sceaterian, probably from a dialect of Old Norse. Possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, split, shatter”). Compare Middle Dutch scheteren (“to scatter”), Low German schateren, Dutch schateren (“to burst out laughing”); and is apparently remotely akin to Ancient Greek ?????????? (skedánnumi, “scatter, disperse”). Doublet of shatter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?skæt?/
• (General American) enPR: sk?t??r, IPA^(key): /?skæt?/
• Rhymes: -æt?(?)
• Hyphenation: scat?ter

Verb

scatter (third-person singular simple present scatters, present participle scattering, simple past and past participle scattered)

1. (ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.

   The crowd scattered in terror.
2. (transitive) To distribute loosely as by sprinkling.

   Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall.

   • Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, / Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?

3. (transitive, physics) To deflect (radiation or particles).
4. (intransitive) To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.
5. (transitive) To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow.

   to scatter hopes or plans

6. (transitive) To be dispersed upon.

   Desiccated stalks scattered the fields.
7. (transitive, baseball) Of a pitcher: to keep down the number of hits or walks.

Synonyms

• (disperse): See also Thesaurus:disperse

Derived terms

• scatterbrain
• scatterplot
• scattershot

Translations

Noun

scatter (countable and uncountable, plural scatters)

1. The act of scattering or dispersing.
2. A collection of dispersed objects.
   • 2006, Theano S. Terkenli, Anne-Marie d'Hauteserre, Landscapes of a New Cultural Economy of Space, Springer Science & Business Media ?ISBN, page 84

   • 2015, Ian Shennan, Antony J. Long, Benjamin P. Horton, Handbook of Sea-Level Research, John Wiley & Sons ?ISBN, page 19

Further reading

• scatter at OneLook Dictionary Search
• scatter in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• scatter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

References

Anagrams

• tracest

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk?t?(?)/
• Rhymes: -?t?(?)

Noun

scutter (countable and uncountable, plural scutters)

1. Thin excrement.
   • 2001, Ciaran O'Driscoll, A Runner Among Falling Leaves (page 74)

     Cows were always scuttering: they left mounds and trails of scutter all over the place.

2. A hasty run.

Verb

scutter (third-person singular simple present scutters, present participle scuttering, simple past and past participle scuttered)

1. To void thin excrement.
   • 1565, Alois Brandl (ed.), King Daryus:

     Nay then I wil geue you no bread and butter.
     Here, take some, it will make thee to scutter.

   • 2001, Ciaran O'Driscoll, A Runner Among Falling Leaves (page 74)

     Cows were always scuttering: they left mounds and trails of scutter all over the place.

2. To run with a light pattering noise; to skitter.

   We saw a rat scuttering into a dark corner as we turned on the lights.

   • A mangy little jackal […] cocked up his ears and tail, and scuttered across the shallows.

Derived terms

• bullscutter
• scutterer

See also

• Web scutter

Anagrams

• Cutters, curtest, cutters