Also 6 spley(gh, spleigh; pa. pple. 5 splaid, 6 splaied, splaide, spleyde, spleade, spled. [Aphetic form of DISPLAY v.]
† 1. trans. To unfold, unfurl or expand (a banner); = DISPLAY v. 1. Obs.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 9918. Bot horn ne trompe dide non blowe … Til alle were splayed ilka banere.
c. 1400. Song Roland, 452. They splayd baners, for men se it shold.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, VIII. xiii. (1558), 8/2. Swerd or septer … There was none nor baners splayde wyde.
a. 1529. Skelton, Agst. Garnesche, ii. 30. Ye grounde yow vpon Godfrey … Your stondarde, Syr Olifranke, agenst me for to splay.
1555. Eden, Decades, I. iii. (Arb.), 83. They assayled the one the other as fiersely, as if mortal ennemies, with theyr baners spleade, shulde fight for theyr goodes.
1594. R. C[arew], Godfrey of B. (1881), 21. He saw the loftie Standard splayd, With Peters Diademe and with his keyes.
† b. To display in a banner. Obs.–1
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 26. The fyve rosis portraid in the shelde, Splaid in the baner at Jherusalem.
† c. To adorn with displayed banners. Obs.–1
1533. Coronation Q. Anne, A j. All the worshypfull Craftes and Occupacyons … toke theyr barges which were splayed with goodly baners.
2. To spread out, expand, extend; to open out in a spreading manner. Also with out.
In mod. use suggested by SPLAY sb. 1.
c. 1402. Lydg., Compl. Bl. Knt., 33. The floures … gunne for to sprede, And for to splay out her leves on brede Ageyn the sunne.
1530. Hickscorner, 19. She sawe her sone, all deed, Splayed on a crosse with the fyve welles of pyte.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasmus Par. Luke, Pref. 11 b. The grayne of mustard-sede … dyd ferre and wyde spleigh his boughes abrode.
1567. Golding, Ovid’s Met., VI. (1593), 130. And over Leda she had made a swan his wings to splay.
1879. J. Gilburt, in Lett. to Clergy, 191. Their portals large splayed out embracingly.
1881. Nature, XXIV. 571. If the tube be touched … the shadow will be splayed out in a striking manner.
1893. Q. [Quiller-Couch], Delect. Duchy, 127. He slammed down his fist on the rickety deal table, which promptly collapsed flat on the floor, with its four legs splayed under the circular cover.
transf. c. 1557. Abp. Parker, Ps. xxxiv. 81. Upon the iust and godly men, the Lorde hys eyes doth splay.
† b. To spread or open out so as to exhibit fully; = DISPLAY v. 3. Obs.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 625. The cok confesseth emyne[n]t Cupide When he is gemmy tayl bygynnyth splay About hymself.
1513. in Glover, Hist. Derby (1829), I. App. 61. Sir John Sowch … bayryth goulls, a Faucon splay’d syttyng upon a stok.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 72. The clothe of his estate of the blacke Egle all splaied on riche clothe of golde.
1575. Laneham, Lett. (1871), 40. A gray Mare,… her pannell on her bak,… her tail splayd at most eaz.
† c. To cut up or carve. Obs. (Cf. DISPLAY v. 2 b.)
In some late works miscopied as SOLAY.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, F vij b. A Breme splayed.
1513. Bk. Keruynge, in Babees Bk. (1868), 265. Splaye that breme. [Hence in Holme (1688), etc.]
† d. (See quot. and cf. SPLAITING vbl. sb.) Obs.
1463. Paston Lett., II. 143. The ferror … seyth he [a horse] was splayyd, and hys shulder rent from the body.
† 3. absol. a. To come into view; to display or show oneself. Obs.
a. 1400. Stockholm Medical MS., ii. 186, in Anglia, XVIII. 312. On lammesse-day Erly on morw, or sonne splay.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VI. (1811), 236. Thilfer, a Norman, splayed before the hoost of Normans, and slewe an Englysshe man, or knyght, that came agayne hym.
† b. Of wings: To spread out; to be extended.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 697. Ther kam a dowe whyt as snowh, With hys wynges splayng oute. Ibid., 18521. On the pomel … Wonder hygh ther sate a krowe, His whynges splayynge to and ffro.
4. trans. To bevel or make slanting; to construct with a splay.
1598. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 252. The windoes … shalbe well splayed on the inside.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 310. In working the cornice, the top or upper side should be splayed away towards its front edge.
1851. Ruskin, Stones Ven., I. xvi. § 4. These angles … should at once be bevelled off, or, as it is called, splayed.
a. 1878. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit. (1879), I. 278. The simplest method … is to splay the jambs and arch of the window.
b. To take off by splaying.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 297/2. The upper surface … becomes an octagon when the angles at the corners are splayed off.
5. intr. a. To have, take, or lie in, an oblique or slanting direction.
1725. W. Halfpenny, Sound Building, 13. A Semicircular Door, or Window, whose Jaums … splays more or less. Ibid., 14. The Arch … will splay gradually … to AC and DB.
1875. R. F. Martin, trans. Havrez’ Winding Mach., 45. It is not impossible to build them with sides which splay more and more.
1875. Sir T. Seaton, Fret-Cutting, 151. The little side ornaments A and B splay outwards and incline downwards to meet the centre one.
b. To spread out in an awkward manner.
1848. Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xxxii. It was a finger, as knotted as a turkey’s drumstick, and splaying all over the piano.
