1885. Sala [D. Tel., 1 Sep., 5, 4]. I should like to see the Australian Crœsusses spending their money. Why don't they cut a splash with their magnificent revenues?
1900. White, West End, 16. 'What a big splash your uncle will make, Atherton,' said he. 'Of course it isn't for me to advise; but if you want him to arrive soon you had better get a real flyer to take your aunt in hand.'
1902. Kernahan, Scoundrels, xv. I've got the loan of a big hall . . . and I intend to make a bit of a splash.
Splasher, subs. (military).—In pl.
= The Wiltshire Regiment, late
The 62nd Foot.
Splathers. Hold your splathers,
phr. (tailors').—'Hold
your tongue!' Splathever = a
braggart; a great talker.
Splatterdash, subs. (colloquial).—A
bustle; an uproar.
Splatter-face, subs. phr. (common).—A
broad-faced man or
woman; also as adj.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford (1861), vi. a splatter-faced wench neither civil nor nimble.
Splay-foot, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A
person with flat, awkward,
or spreading feet: splay-footed
= awkward in gait, heavy-footed.
Splay-mouth = (1) a large, wide,
grinning mouth; hence (2) a
grimace.
1588-93. Tarleton, Jests [Halliwell (1844)]. [Oliphant, New Eng., ii. 13. Amongst the romance words are undecentnes . . . splaie-footed.]
1608. Machin, Dumb Knight, iv. 1. Sure I met no splea-footed beggar.
1633. Ford, Broken Heart, v. 1. The doublers of a hare, or in a morning Salutes from a splay-footed witch.
1692. Dryden, Persius, i. Hads't thou but, Janus like, a face behind, To see the people when splay mouths they make.
d.1704. Brown, Works, ii. 271. These solemn splay-mouthed gentlemen, Madam, says I, only do it to improve in natural philosophy.
Splendiferous, adj. (colloquial).—Splendid.
Also splendacious;
splendidous; and splendidious.
1538. Bale, Enterlude Johan Bapt. [Harl. Misc., i. 113]. O tyme most ioyfull, daye most splendiferus.
1605. Jonson, Fox, ii. 1. Worshipful merchants, ay, and senators too . . . have detained me to their uses by their splendidous liberalities.
1605. Drayton, Moses, &c., B iii. His brows encircled with spendidious rays.
1630. Taylor, Works. To the mirror of time, the most refulgent splendidious reflecting court animal, don Archibald Armstrong.
1855. Haliburton, Human Nature, 280. To my mind a splendiferous woman and a first-chop horse are the noblest works of creation.
1856. Dow, Sermons, 1. 69. The splendiferous splendours that decorate the opposite shore ['of the gulf of death'].
1863. Reade, Hard Cash, xxviii. Where is all your gorgeous attire . . . I see the splendiferous articles arrive, and then they vanish for ever.
Splice, verb. (common).—1. To
marry: of the agent; and 2.
(venery) = to copulate. To be
spliced = to get married. Also
splice, subs. = a wife (Grose).
1751. Smollett, Per. Pickle, vii. Trunnion! Trunnion! turn out and be spliced, or lie still and be ded.
1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (1889), 20. Tomorrow we'll go to the Fleet, and get spliced.
1852. Bronte, Villette, xl. We never meant to be spliced in the humdrum way of other people.
1857. Whitty, Bohemia, i. 205. 'Is this the confidence of married life?' 'Not spliced yet you know.'
1858. Lytton, What Will He Do With It, iv. ix. If you advise me to be spliced, why don't you get spliced yourself? . . . you can be at no loss for a heiress.
1897. Marshall, Pomes, 31. He's fond of something tasty, so to speak, For me and him was spliced last Monday week.
