Dictionary

sputteringly en · ADV

Etymology

From sputtering + -ly.

Meanings

1. With sputtering noises, especially while scattering or throwing particles.
   • [W]here in her theatrical character she was to sup off a roast fowl (O joy to Barbara!) some comic actor, who was for the night caterer for this dainty—in the misguided humour of his part, threw over the dish such a quantity of salt (O grief and pain of heart to Barbara!) that when he crammed a portion of it into her mouth, she was obliged sputteringly to reject it; […] 1833, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Barbara S⁠——”, in The Last Essays of Elia. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 119:
   • For a while he sat in silence beside the fire of bones soaked in train oil that burned sputteringly on the hearthstones beneath the smoke hole set in the pointed roof. 1930, Alice Alison Lide, Margaret Alison Johansen, chapter VIII, in Ood-le-uk the Wanderer, page 106:

Forms