▪ I. splashing, vbl. n.1
(ˈsplæʃɪŋ)
[f. splash v.1]
1. a. The action of the verb, in various senses.
| 1722–7 Boyer Dict. Royal, Splashing, l'Action d'éclabousser. 1775 Ash, Splashing,..the act of daubing with wet and dirt. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. i. vii, There are marchings and wet splashings by steep paths. 1845 J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific ix. 114 A whole shoal of them [sharks] were moving about, I suppose attracted by my splashing in the water. 1886 W. J. Tucker E. Europe 14 Centring all was a fountain at play, intermingling its musical splashings with the..song of birds. |
b. Med. Noisy motion of air and liquid inside the body.
| 1890 F. Taylor Pract. Med. 344 In cases of hydro- or pyo-pneumothorax, shaking the patient will elicit a splashing sound. 1897 Hutchison & Rainy Clin. Methods 62 If ‘splashing’ be elicited it will be partly heard and partly felt. Distinct splashing elicited three hours after a meal..is very suggestive of a dilated stomach. 1971 R. B. Cole Essent. Respiratory Dis. iii. 29 The presence of air and fluid in the pleural space (hydro⁓pneumothorax) is indicated if a splash can be heard on auscultation when the thoracic cage is gently shaken. It should not be confused with the splashing of gastric contents. |
2. techn. (See quots.)
| 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §542 Splashing is a mode of colouring walls, which may be performed..in water, in glutinous, or in oil, colours. Ibid., The object of splashing is either to imitate the lichens and weather stains of an old wall, or some particular kind of stone. |
3. attrib. in splashing leather. splashing-board = splash-board 1.
| 1809 Sporting Mag. XXXIV. 200 The pole came out of the splashing leather. a 1817 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1818) I. vii. 87 Seat, trunk, sword-case, splashing-board, lamps, silver moulding, all you see complete; the iron work as good as new, or better. He asked fifty guineas. |
▪ II. ˈsplashing, vbl. n.2 dial.
[f. splash v.2]
Pleaching. Also splashing-bill, a pleaching-bill.
| 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xxxviii, The ramparts of ash, which is made by what we call ‘splashing’. 1899 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Mar. 104 The work on well-established hedges is most quickly performed by a long-handled splashing-bill. |
▪ III. ˈsplashing, ppl. a.
[f. splash v.1]
1. Causing some stir or sensation; making something of a display.
| 1820 Creevey in C. Papers (1904) I. 326 We are now evidently going to have a splashing debate. 1850 W. P. Scargill Eng. Sk.-Bk. 4 The roystering,..splashing, dashing accomplishments of the country gentleman. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 24 Jan. 1/3 The fact does not..diminish the danger of a splashing intervention in foreign affairs. |
2. Making or causing a splash or splashes.
| 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 25 A splashing rain drove us down into the cabin. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Sq. 1 It feeds in the springtime many splashing brooks. 1889 Science-Gossip XXV. 224, I unwittingly entered the drowsily splashing ferry-boat and leaped upon the quay. |
3. Of the nature of, suggestive of, a splash.
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 661 Mention must be made of the splashing sounds which may be produced by shaking the patient. |
Hence ˈsplashingly adv.
| 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son lxxv, I heard something fall splashingly into the boat. 1882 E. O'Donovan Merv Oasis II. 107 Some heavy rain-drops fell splashingly. |