Search the Dictionary

To cause to pass from place to place, or from person to person; to spread; as, to circulate a report; to circulate bills of credit. Circulating pump. See under Pump.

To pour round; to spread round. His army circumfused on either wing. Milton.

Capable of being poured or spread round. "Circumfusile gold." Pope.

The act of pouring or spreading round; the state of being spread round. Swift.

To daub, smear, or spread, as with mud, etc. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds; as, the sky is clouded.

by yachts having a fore-and-aft rig. It has a short "club" or "jack yard" to increase its spread.

The network spread by a spider to catch its prey.

wilight; nightfall; -- so called in allusion to the tome at which the cockshut used to be spread. [Obs.] Shak. B. Jonson.

and remote; -- usually followed by with. Silence! coeval with eternity! Pope. Oaks coeval spread a mournful shade. Cowper.

e, and stable manure) thoroughly mingled and decomposed, as in a compost heap. And do not spread the compost on the weeds To make them ranker. Shak.

Spreading or communicable from one to another; exciting similar emotions or conduct in others. His genius rendered his courage more contagious. Wirt. The spirit of imitation is contagious. Ames.

A broad ice sheet resting on a plain or plateau and spreading outward from a central névé, or region of accumulation.

strict infected with disease, to cut off communication, and thus prevent the disease from spreading.

Common everywhere; widely spread; found in all parts of the world. The Cheiroptera are cosmopolitan. R. Owen.

couched his spear, And spurred his steed to full career. Sir W. Scott. To couch malt, to spread malt on a floor. Mortimer.

To overspread the surface of (one thing) with another; as, to cover wood with paint or lacquer; to cover a table with a cloth.

Being in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist; humid. O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear. Dryden.

r; to mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality; to overspread partially; to bespatter; to touch here and there; as, to dash wine with water; to dash paint upon a picture. I take care to dash the character with such particular circumstance as may prevent ill-natured applications. Addis…

To cover; to overspread. To deck with clouds the uncolored sky. Milton.