[f. prec., or after SPLAY-FOOT, -FOOTED.]
A. adv. a. = SPLAY-FOOT 3. b. In an oblique manner; slantingly. Also ellipt. cut splay, bricks cut with a slope or slant.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), I. 144. He walked splay, stooping and noddling.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 554. The sloping of the bricks thus, is called cut splay. Plain tile creasing and cut splay are charged by the foot run.
B. adj. 1. Oblique; awry; off the straight.
1876. M. Arnold, Lit. & Dogma, Pref. p. xxv. In the German mind, as in the German language, there does seem to be something splay.
2. Comb., as splay-kneed, -toed.
1896. ‘H. Seton Merriman,’ Flotsam, iv. The waiter, in his rusty black and splay-toed shuffling boots.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 2 Feb., 2/3. I see you … The slave of some splay-kneed mechanic.
