Hypertext Webster Gateway: "sputtering"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sputter \Sput"ter\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Sputtered}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Sputtering}.] [From the root of spout or spit to
eject from the mputh. Cf. {Splutter}.]
1. To spit, or to emit saliva from the mouth in small,
scattered portions, as in rapid speaking.
2. To utter words hastily and indistinctly; to speak so
rapidly as to emit saliva.
They could neither of them speak their rage, and so
fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting
apples. --Congreve.
3. To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a
noise like that made by one sputtering.
Like the green wood . . . sputtering in the flame.
--Dryden.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (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}]
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