%spatter%

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Spattered p. pr. & vb. n. Spattering. ] [ From the root of spit salvia. ] 1. To sprinkle with a liquid or with any wet substance, as water, mud, or the like; to make wet of foul spots upon by sprinkling; as, to spatter a coat; to spatter the floor; to spatter boots with mud. [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon any occasion he is to be spattered over with the blood of his people. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To distribute by sprinkling; to sprinkle around; as, to spatter blood. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Fig.: To injure by aspersion; to defame; to soil; also, to throw out in a defamatory manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To throw something out of the mouth in a scattering manner; to sputter. [ 1913 Webster ]

That mind must needs be irrecoverably depraved, which, . . . tasting but once of one just deed, spatters at it, and abhors the relish ever after. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Wearing spatterdashes. [ Colloq. ] Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ Spatter + dash. ] Coverings for the legs, to protect them from water and mud; long gaiters. [ 1913 Webster ]