Other forms: sprayed, spraying, sprays
To spray is to send liquid out in a fine mist. Spray the plants, sprayed with paint, a spray can.
Droplet size is what decides where it goes: fine ones drift for miles and coarse ones fall straight down, which is the central problem in crop spraying. As a noun, spray is also a small branch with flowers on it. Note the word came from Dutch.
1verbsprayTo send liquid out in a fine mist.
“The farmer sprayed the apple trees to protect them from insects.”
2nounsmallA small branch bearing flowers.
“The bride carried a small spray of white roses.”
spray is a mist, or a branch.
From Middle Dutch spraeyen, to sprinkle, from a Germanic root meaning to scatter. Spread and sprinkle are relatives.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)per- — to sow, scatter
Proto-Germanic
*sprēwijaną — to spray, sprinkle
Middle Dutch
spraien
English, today
spray
Built from
From Middle Dutch spraien, sprayen, spraeyen (“to spray, sprinkle, spread”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic sprēwijaną (“to spray, sprinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)per- (“to sow, scatter”). Cognate with Middle High German spræjen, spræwen (“to squirt, spray, dust, splash, straw”), Danish dialectal språe (“to open up, burst forth”), Swedish dialectal språ (“to sprout, shoot forth, burst”), Norwegian dialectal spra, spræ (“to splash, splatter, spout, burst forth”), Dutch sproeien (“to spray, sprinkle”), German sprühen (“to spray, sparkle”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA