Meaning of Spat | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The spawn of shellfish, especially oysters and similar molluscs.
   countable, uncountable
2. A covering or decorative covering worn over a shoe.
   in-plural, often
3. A brief argument, falling out, quarrel.
4. A light blow with something flat.
5. An obsolete unit of distance in astronomy (symbol S), equal to one billion kilometres.
6. A juvenile shellfish which has attached to a hard surface.
   countable, uncountable
7. A piece of bodywork that covers the upper portions of the rear tyres of a car.
   Australia, UK
8. A drag-reducing aerodynamic fairing covering the upper portions of the tyres of an aeroplane equipped with non-retractable landing gear.

Equivalents

Examples

“As spat-fall often occurs in areas away from environments suitable for oyster growing, the collection, transport and sale of oyster spat has developed into a separate industry.”

“But Orata’s oysters were, like the dormice and fish, collected in the wild, as spat.”

“Conditions in pearl oyster hatcheries are optimized for growth and survival of spat.”

“If the spat are allowed to remain attached to the tank bottom for more than two days, they are difficult to remove without damage to the shell.”

“get into a trivial spat over punctuality”

“have a vicious spat with the cousins”

“The downside of this cost-saving strategy was that the train service could only be covered by goodwill. Whenever there was a spat between ASLEF and management - regardless of cause - the withdrawal of this goodwill became a stick with which unions could beat management.”

CEFR level