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Glite Dictionary
😠 To argue briefly 😠 A small argument 🥚 To release eggs 👞 Shoe covering 🦪 To attach (mollusk) 🦪 A young oyster 💧 To hit noisily
to spat

to spat

7 9.9
To release eggs and sperm into the water to reproduce
  • verb
  • /spæt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : desovar
  • During the spring season, many oysters spat their eggs and sperm into the water to reproduce.

Examples

  • The naturalist explained that oysters spat as a crucial part of their life cycle.

  • When conditions are right, the clam can spat hundreds of thousands of larvae into the ocean.

  • Each time a moth was caught, the researchers observed whether the bat ate them or spat them back out.

  • The laser printer chirred quietly and spat out a flimsy sheet.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Suckers at the bottom of the tank ate this waste, spat it out in disgust, and roved on, still hungry.

    Fiction book (1992)

Synonyms

to lay
vsto spat
411 2.4

To produce eggs and put them in a nest or on the ground

involves releasing eggs and sperm into water rather than just depositing eggs
to spawn
vsto spat
27 4.8

To lay eggs in water like fish or frogs do

also releases sperm into the water during reproduction

Surface Forms

spat infinitive
spatting present participle
spats third person singular
spat past
spat past participle

Etymology

Spat (to spawn) is linked to the idea of spit meaning 'to send out', because oysters and clams 'spat' their eggs and sperm into the water. So to spat can mean to release spawn.