To scatter; disperse; rout.To distribute over a surface as by strewing, sprinkling, smearing, plastering, or overlaying.To flatten out; stretch or draw out into a sheet or layer.To extend or stretch out to the full size; unfold; display by unfolding, stretching, expanding, or the like.To lay or set out; outspread; display, as something to be viewed in its full extent.To reach out: extend.To send out in all directions; scatter or shed abroad; disseminate; diffuse; propagate.To overspread; overlay the surface of.Hence—9. To cover or equip in the proper manner; set; lay: as, to spread a table.To set forth; recount at full length; hence, in recent use, to enter or record.To push apart: as, the weight of the train spread the rails.Synonyms To scatter, circulate, publish.To become scattered or distributed.To stretch one's self out, especially in a horizontal position.To be outspread; hence, to have great breadth; be broad.To become extended by growth or expansion; increase in extent; expand; grow.To be extended by communication or propagation; become diffused; be shed abroad.To be pushed apart, as the rails of a cartrack.To set a table; lay the cloth or dishes for a meal.n. The act of spreading or extending; propagation; diffusion: as, the spread of knowledge.n. The state, condition, quality, or capability of being outspread; expansion: as, the tail of the peacock has an imposing spread.n. The amount of extension or expansion, especially in surface; expanse; breadth; compass.n. Hence—4. See the quotation.n. A stretch; an expanse.n. Capacity for spreading or stretching.n. That which is spread or set out, as on a table; a meal; a feast; especially, a meal, more or less elaborate, given to a select party.n. A cloth used for a covering, as of a table or bed; a coverlet.n. The privilege of demanding shares of stock at a certain price, or of delivering shares of stock at another price, within a certain time agreed on.n. A saddle.n. Among lapidaries, a stone which has a large surface in proportion to its thickness.n. In zoology, the measure from tip to tip of the spread wings, as of a bat, a bird, or an insect; the expanse or extent.n. In mathematics, a continuous manifold of points: thus, space is a three-way spread.Extended in area; having a broad surface; broad.Shallower than the standard; having insufficient depth or thickness for the highest luster: said of a gem.Nautical, a sailor or other person lashed in the rigging or elsewhere with arms and legs outspread: a form of punishment.In cookery, a fowl split open down the back and broiled.In the language of the stock exchange, a straddle.n. In mathematics: A continuous or discontinuous connected aggregate, assemblage, or manifold of elements: thus, for instance, a two-spread may be considered as a surface with points or lines as elements.n. In bacteriology, same as smear, 6.n. A misère or grando, in any game of cards in which the single player's cards are placed face up on the table. See skat and boston.