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Origin and history of scattered

scattered(adj.)

late 14c., of units in a grouping, "disunified and dispersed," past-participle adjective from scatter (v.). Figurative use, in reference to thoughts, etc., is by 1620s. Related: Scatteredly.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to scattered

scatter(v.)

mid-12c., scateren, transitive, "to squander;" c. 1300, "to separate and drive off in disorder;" late 14c., "to throw loosely about, strew here and there," possibly a northern English variant of Middle English schateren (see shatter), reflecting Norse influence. The intransitive sense, "go or flee in different directions, disperse" is from c. 1300. As a noun from 1640s, "act or action of scattering;" by 1950 in reference to radio waves.

scatterbrain(n.)

also scatter-brain, "thoughtless, giddy person; one incapable of serious, connected thought," 1790, from adjective scatter-brained "careless, giddy" (1764); see scatter (v.) + brain (n.). Scattered in the figurative mental sense is by 1620s, and the use of scattering for "mental distraction" dates to mid-15c. For the formation, compare scatter-good "spendthrift" (early 13c. as a surname).

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    confused
    early 14c., "discomfited, routed, defeated" (of groups), serving at first as an alternative past participle of confound, as Latin confusus was the past participle of confundere "to pour together, mix, mingle; to join together;" hence, figuratively, "to throw into disorder; to tro
    disjointed
    1580s, of words or speech, "incoherent;" 1640s in the literal sense of "having the joints separated;" past-participle adjective from obsolete verb disjoint "separate or disconnect the joints of; disrupt, destroy" (mid-15c.), from Old French desjoint, past participle of desjoindre
    sporadic
    1680s, "separate, single, scattered," from Medieval Latin sporadicus "scattered," from Greek sporadikos "scattered," from...sporas (genitive sporados) "scattered, dispersed," from spora "a sowing" (see spore)....Originally a medical term, of outbreaks of disease, "occurring in scattered instances;" the general sense of "scattered,...
    sparse
    "thinly scattered, existing at considerable intervals, widely spaced between," 1727, from Latin sparsus "scattered," past...strew;" Greek speirein "to strew, to sow," spora "a scattering, sowing," sperma "sperm, seed," literally "that which is scattered...Sparse has been regarded, falsely, as an Americanism, and has been objected to as being exactly equivalent to scattered...adjective, however, it is free from the possible ambiguity in the participial form and consequent verbal implication of scattered...
    broadcasting
    humour, news and information bulletins, speeches and ceremonies, pictures and other matter susceptible of appreciation by a scattered...
    amidst
    There is a tendency to use amidst more distributively than amid, e.g. of things scattered about, or a thing moving, in the...
    flyer
    small handbill or fly-sheet" is from 1889, U.S. slang (originally especially of police bulletins), on notion of "made to be scattered...
    circulate
    1540s as a chemical term in reference to alternating vaporization and condensation, from Latin circulatus, past participle of circulare "to form a circle," from circulus "small ring" (see circle (n.)). Intransitive sense of "to pass about freely, pass from place to place or perso
    dot
    "point or minute spot on a surface," Old English dott, once, "speck, head of a boil," perhaps related to Norwegian dot "lump, small knot," Dutch dot "knot, small bunch, wisp," Old High German tutta "nipple;" a word of uncertain etymology. Known from a single source c. 1000; the w
    swash
    1530s, expressing a blow or the fall of a heavy body, probably imitative. It also meant "pig-wash, filth, wet refuse" (1520s) and may have been imitative of the sound of water dashing against solid objects or a heavy blow on a yielding surface. The meaning "a body of splashing wa

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