# spread

Pronunciation: say "SPRED" /spɹɛd/

## Verb

1. To reach or cover a wider area, or pass to more people or places, so that something becomes more widely present or known.
   - Simple: To move into more places or reach more people, or to grow to cover a bigger area.
   - _The disease spread rapidly across the region within weeks._
   - _Misinformation tends to spread faster than the corrections that follow it._
2. To cause something to proliferate or become widely known or present.
   - Simple: To make something reach many places or many people.
   - _The campaign spread awareness of the disease across rural communities._
   - _Social media can spread a single message to millions within hours._
3. To scatter or distribute something over a given area.
   - Simple: To scatter things over an area.
   - _Volunteers spread sand over the icy paths each winter._
   - _The wind spread the ashes across the valley._
5. To put a soft substance in a thin layer over a surface, or to cover a surface with a substance in this way.
   - Simple: To put a thin layer of something soft, like butter, over a surface.
   - _She spread a thin layer of mortar across the brick._
   - _Cooks often spread softened butter over the dough before baking._
6. To open out or stretch something so that it covers a wider area, such as a cloth, a map, sails, a bird's wings, or a person's arms or fingers.
   - Simple: To open something out or stretch it wide, like a map on a table or a bird's wings.
   - _He spread the sails to catch the wind._
   - _Campers spread their groundsheets before pitching the tents._
7. To split something such as a cost, a series of payments, or a workload across a stretch of time or among a number of people.
   - Simple: To share out a cost, payments, or work over a period of time or between several people.
   - _The store lets customers spread payments over twelve months with no interest._
   - _The new manager spread the workload more evenly across the team._
11. To open one's legs, especially in offering sexual favors. *(vulgar)*
   - Simple: To open the legs wide, especially as an offer of sex.
   - _She had no intention of spreading for a promotion she had already earned._
   - _He arrogantly assumed any woman would spread the moment he flashed his cash._
22. To prepare a table or meal, setting it out and furnishing it with provisions.
   - Simple: To set out a table with food and everything needed for a meal.
   - _The innkeeper spread a generous table for the weary travelers._
   - _Every harvest, the family would spread a feast for everyone who had helped._

## Noun

4. The act or process by which something extends or distributes itself over a wider area.
   - Simple: The way something moves into more places or reaches more people.
   - _Health officials raced to slow the spread of the infection._
   - _The rapid spread of the new technology surprised even its inventors._
8. A food meant to be applied in a layer over bread or crackers, such as butter or jam.
   - Simple: A soft food you put on bread, like butter or jam.
   - _The café offers several vegan spreads made from nuts and beans._
   - _He prefers a savory spread on his morning toast._
9. The gap found by subtracting one particular number, rate, or amount from another, such as two interest rates or the highest and lowest of a set of figures.
   - Simple: The difference between two numbers, rates, or amounts.
   - _Analysts watched the spread between borrowing and lending rates widen._
   - _A large spread in salaries can signal inequality within a company._
10. The difference between the highest price a buyer will offer and the lowest price a seller will accept.
   - Simple: The gap between the price buyers offer and the price sellers ask.
   - _Market makers profit from the spread between the bid and the offer._
   - _In thinly traded stocks, a wide spread means you lose money the moment you buy, because you can only sell at the lower bid._
13. In sports betting, the number of points by which the favored team is expected to win, set in advance as a handicap.
   - Simple: In sports betting, the number of points the stronger team is expected to win by.
   - _The favorites covered the spread by winning by fourteen._
   - _Sportsbooks set the spread at seven points before kickoff._
14. A newspaper or magazine feature that occupies more than one column or page.
   - Simple: A newspaper or magazine story that fills more than one page or column.
   - _The fashion editor commissioned a six-page spread on summer trends._
   - _His investigation became a front-section spread in Sunday's edition._
15. The pair of facing pages visible when a book or magazine lies open.
   - Simple: The two pages that face each other when a book lies open.
   - _The designer placed the timeline across a single spread._
   - _Each spread in the album held photos from one summer._
16. A large meal, especially one with many dishes laid out on a table.
   - Simple: A big meal with lots of food set out on a table.
   - _The host prepared a lavish spread for the wedding guests._
   - _They laid out quite a spread for the family reunion._
17. A piece of material used as a covering, such as one laid over a bed.
   - Simple: A cloth used to cover something, such as a bed.
   - _She pulled the quilted spread off the bed and folded it at the foot before climbing under the sheets._
   - _A patchwork spread draped across the four-poster bed._
18. The extent to which the values in a dataset are scattered or vary.
   - Simple: How widely the values in a set of data differ from one another.
   - _Two classes can have the same average score, yet one may have a much wider spread, with some students failing and others near the top._
   - _Two datasets can share an average yet differ greatly in spread._
19. A broad expanse of open land stretching across the countryside.
   - Simple: A wide area of open land.
   - _A green spread of farmland reached down to the river._
   - _Beyond the fence lay a vast spread of prairie._
20. An extensive tract of land used for raising livestock, especially a cattle ranch.
   - Simple: A large piece of land where people raise cattle and other farm animals.
   - _The rancher's spread stretched as far as the eye could see._
   - _After years of saving, they finally bought a modest spread in Montana._
21. A layout or pattern in which cards are arranged for a divinatory reading.
   - Simple: The way cards are laid out in a chosen pattern for a reading.
   - _She chose the Celtic Cross spread to explore the question in depth._
   - _Different spreads suit different kinds of questions a querent might bring._
12. The breadth across something once it is fully opened out or extended, particularly across the crown of a plant or a bird's outstretched wings.
   - Simple: How wide something is from side to side when it is fully open, especially a plant's top or a bird's open wings.
   - _The old oak's branches have a spread of nearly ninety feet, shading half the yard._
   - _The ranger measured the injured hawk's spread from one wingtip to the other before setting the bird free._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Something that has been spread out or distributed over a surface.
- (noun) The difference between the price of one futures delivery month and that of another month for the same commodity.
- (noun) A trade that buys a futures contract for one delivery month while simultaneously selling another delivery month of the same commodity.
- (noun) Several torpedoes fired together along side-by-side paths that fan out slowly, aimed at one or more enemy ships.
- (noun) An unlimited expanse consisting of discontinuous, separate points.
- (noun) A dish that prisoners put together themselves from commissary snacks and other items, to break the monotony of jail meals.
- (noun) In futures trading, buying a contract for one commodity while selling a contract for a different commodity due in the same month.
- (noun) A trade that buys a commodity in one market and sells it in another to profit from a gap between their prices.
- (noun) In gem cutting, how wide a stone's face is compared with how deep it is cut.
- (noun) The blurring and widening of pen strokes when ink soaks too far into paper that absorbs it too readily.
- (verb) In competitive debate, to deliver arguments at extremely high speed so as to fit in as many as possible.
- (noun) In competitive debate, the practice or an instance of speaking at extreme speed to pack in arguments.

## Origin

Behind it is a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to strew, sow, sprinkle', which led to Proto-Germanic *spraidijaną; that became Old English sprǣdan ('to spread, expand') and then Middle English spreden. Related words meaning 'to spread' include Dutch spreiden, German spreiten, and Swedish sprida.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/spread (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).