spray

1. (transitive) To project a liquid in a dispersive manner toward something.Examples: "The firemen sprayed the house."; "Using a water cannon, the national guard sprayed the protesters."transitive

2. (ergative) To project in a dispersive manner.Examples: "Spray some ointment on that scratch."; "The water sprayed out of the hose."ergative

3. (transitive, figurative) To project many small items dispersively.Examples: "The sprawl of sheds like Magna Parks 1 to 3 are a particularly vivid measure, because they host the final moment of relative stasis for millions of products that are then sprayed out to homes in every direction."; "Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet."figurativelytransitive

4. (intransitive, zoology) To urinate in order to mark territory.intransitive

5. (transitive, computing, computer security) To allocate blocks of memory from (a heap, etc.), and fill them with the same byte sequence, hoping to establish that sequence in a certain predetermined location as part of an exploit.Examples: "to spray the heap of a target process"; "This approach would be altered for an optimal omelette based exploit. One would spray the heap with the omelette code solely, then load a single copy of the additional shellcode eggs into memory outside the target region for the spray."transitive

6. (transitive, soccer) To pass (a ball), usually laterally across the field and often a long distance.Examples: "Kevin McLeod sprayed the ball across from the left flank where a raging Ainsworth met it on the volley from 25 yards out, crashing the ball into the roof of the net."; "Yunus sprayed it to the wing where Ali was in some space."transitive

1. (countable) A small branch of flowers or berries.Examples: "The bridesmaid carried a spray of lily-of-the-valley."; "O Nightingale, that on yon bloomy ſpray / Warbleſt at eve, when all the woods are ſtill, / Thou with freſh hope the lover’s heart doſt fill, / While the jolly hours lead on propitious May."; "The painted Birds, Companions of the Spring, / Hopping from Spray to Spray, were heard to ſing ; / Both Eyes and Ears receiv’d a like Delight, / Enchanting Muſick, and a charming Sight."countable

2. (countable) A collective body of small branches.Examples: "The tree has a beautiful spray."; "A blisful flour, owt of this spray schal springe ; / The fruyt þer-of schal be ful precïous ; / A causë haue [we] for to ioye & synge, / In honure of þat maidë gracïous, / That gret comfort schal cause[n] vnto vs ; / ffor now schal faste oure company encrees, / And god with man schal makë smallë pees."; "And from the Trees did lop the needless Spray;"countable

3. (uncountable) Branches and twigs collectively; foliage.Examples: "Gret fur he made þer aniȝt of wode & of sprai."; "Troubled, 'wilder'd, and forlorn, / Dark, benighted, travel-worn, / Over many a tangled spray, / All heart-broke I heard her say"; "The pea, being a tendrilled climber, whenever it is to be cultivated to the greatest advantage, ought to be supported by pea sticks, which are branches of trees or shrubs well furnished with spray, and of lengths suited to the height to which the plants grow."uncountable

4. (countable, obsolete) An orchard.countableobsolete

5. (countable) An ornament or design that resembles a branch.countable