splutter

«splutter» in Mova's school dictionary: To speak quickly and with difficulty, making spitting… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (splutter, splutters, spluttered, spluttering); noun (a splutter, splutters)

meaning for a pupil

1) To speak quickly and with difficulty, making spitting sounds, because you are angry, shocked or embarrassed. tree →

2) To cough or spit noisily, as when choking on food or water. tree →

3) (of an engine or fire) To make a series of short, uneven popping noises. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories «spluttered» shows a character is shocked or furious and can't speak smoothly. It also describes a choking cough or an old car engine starting badly. Phrases: «splutter into life», «spluttered with laughter».

examples

• "But — but — that's not fair!" he spluttered. tree →
• She spluttered when the water went up her nose. tree →
• The old car spluttered and stopped. tree →
• The candle spluttered in the wind. tree →
• I spluttered with laughter at the joke. tree →
• The engine spluttered into life. tree →
• "What do you mean?" spluttered the Prince. tree →

note

Regular verb; double t. Similar: sputter (more common in the USA for engines), stammer (speaking with breaks).

In the corpora

• The water is freezing; the Mole sinks, comes up spluttering, sinks again — until a firm paw grabs his neck.
• The front-door bell clangs, and in bursts the Otter, hugging the Rat so hard he splutters through his buttered toast.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «splutter» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.