2. To extend so as to cover something; to extend to a great or grater extent in every direction; to cause to fill or cover a wide or wider space. Rose, as in a dance, the stately trees, and spread Their branches hung with copious fruit. Milton.
3. To divulge; to publish, as news or fame; to cause to be more extensively known; to disseminate; to make known fully; as, to spread a report; — often acompanied by abroad. They, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. Matt. ix. 31.
4. To propagate; to cause to affect great numbers; as, to spread a disease.
5. To diffuse, as emanations or effluvia; to emit; as, odoriferous plants spread their fragrance.
6. To strew; to scatter over a surface; as, to spread manure; to spread lime on the ground.
7. To prepare; to set and furnish with provisions; as, to spread a
table.
Boiled the flesh, and spread the board. Tennyson.
To sprad cloth, to unfurl sail. [Obs.] Evelyn.
Syn. — To diffuse; propogate; disperse; publish; distribute; scatter; circulate; disseminate; dispense.
SPREAD
Spread, v. i.
1. To extend in length and breadth in all directions, or in breadth only; to be extended or stretched; to expand. Plants, if they spread much, are seldom tall. Bacon. Govrnor Winthrop, and his associates at Charlestown, had for a church a large, spreading tree. B. Trumbull.
2. To be extended by drawing or beating; as, some metals spread with difficulty.