sprays

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of spray.

   The farmer sprays his orchard twice a season to keep the pests down.

   Each time a wave hits the rocks, cold water sprays high into the air.

   Note

   The verb swings between two kinds of subject: a gardener sprays the roses, with the target as object, while water sprays from a broken pipe, with the liquid itself doing the action. Without an object and said of a cat or other animal, it means marking territory with urine. Specialists stretch it further: a player sprays a long pass across the field, and an attacker sprays a memory heap to set up an exploit.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of spray.

   The garden center stocks a dozen different sprays for aphids alone.

   Fine sprays of water from the fountain cooled the crowd on the hot afternoon.

   Note

   Only the countable uses take this plural: separate bursts of mist, the products on a shelf such as hair sprays and insect sprays, and the atomizers that hold them. When the mist is meant as a mass, the singular stays: sea spray on the windows. Foundry work has its own sprays as well, the side channels that carry molten metal to every part of a mold.

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