splutter

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to speak rapidly or confusedly with spitting sounds, especially from anger or excitement

   He spluttered an indignant reply before anyone could interrupt him.

2. 2
   noun

   a burst of confused speech or a sudden series of spitting, explosive sounds

   The confession ended with a sudden splutter of the pen across the page.

3. 3
   verb

   to make a rapid series of short, explosive, or spitting sounds

   The old engine spluttered twice and then stopped.

An imitative English formation representing abrupt spitting or explosive sounds. The noun and verb developed together in the seventeenth century; the speech sense compares agitated, broken utterance to physical sputtering.

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