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To throw something out of the mouth in a scattering manner; to sputter. 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.

To scatter spittle from the mouth; to spit, as saliva. Why must he sputter, spawl, and slaver it In vain, against the people's favorite. Swift.

limit; notation of limits. This specification or limitation of the question hinders the disputers from wandering away from the precise point of inquiry. I. Watts.

The secretion formed by the glands of the mouth; spitle; saliva; sputum.

To speak hastily and confusedly; to sputter. [Colloq.] Carleton.

To debate peevishly; to dispute. The sense of these propositions is very plain, though logicians might squabble a whole day whether they should rank them under negative or affirmative. I. Watts.

To throw squibs; to utter sarcatic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute; as, to squib a little debate. [Colloq.]

To separate, as combatants; hence, to quiet, to appease, as disputants. [Obs.] Which [question] violently they pursue, Nor stickled would they be. Drayton.

To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest; -- followed by against or with before the person or thing opposed; as, strive against temptation; strive for the truth. Chaucer. My Spirit shall not always strive with man. Gen. vi. 3. Why dost thou strive against him Job xxxiii. 13. Now…

cession in Denmark. Shak. The animosity of these factions did not really arise from the dispute about the succession. Macaulay.

to some duty. Special summonses by the king. Hallam. This summons . . . unfit either to dispute or disobey. Bp. Fell. He sent to summon the seditious, and to offer pardon; but neither summons nor pardon was regarded. Sir J. Hayward.

making; happening where company is drinking together; as, symposiac meetings. Symposiac disputations amongst my acquaintance. Arbuthnot.

To admit, as, something presented to the mind; not to dispute; to allow; to accept; to receive in thought; to entertain in opinion; to understand; to interpret; to regard or look upon; to consider; to suppose; as, to take a thing for granted; this I take to be man's motive; to take men for spies. You take me right. Bac…

any probable expedient, any temperament that can be found in things of this nature, so disputable on their side. Milton.

An adjustment of a dispute between parties by mutual agreement. Transaction of a society, the published record of what it has done or accomplished.

vegetable organism (Bacillus tuberculosis) discovered by Koch, a German physician, in the sputum of consumptive patients and in tuberculous tissue, and believed to be the exciting cause of tubercles and tuberculosis.

verywhere, or in places, at the same time; omnipresence; as, the ubiquity of God is not disputed by those who admit his existence. The arms of Rome . . . were impeded by . . . the wide spaces to be traversed and the ubiquity of the enemy. C. Merivale.

To decide as umpire; to arbitrate; to settle, as a dispute. Judges appointed to umpire the matter in contest between them, and to decide where the right lies. South.

Not argued against; undisputed. [Obs.] Milton.

Indisputable; irrefragable; as, an uncontrollable maxim; an uncontrollable title. [R.] Swift. -- Un`con*trol"la*ble*ness, n. -- Un`con*trol"la*bly, adv.