spreader

From spread + -er.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspɹɛdɚ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdə(ɹ)

spreader (plural spreaders)

1. An object or person who spreads.
2. A spacer or device for keeping two objects apart.
3. A device used to spread bulk material.

   Ellen put grass seed on the lawn with a seed spreader.

4. A knife or spatula used to distribute a substance such as butter or jelly.

   James used a spreader to butter her bagel.

5. (nautical) A horizontal athwartships spar attached to the mast of a sailboat in order to extend the shrouds away from the mast.
6. A machine for combining and drawing fibers of flax to form a sliver preparatory to spinning.
7. The moving platform of a container crane.
8. (computing, slang) A member of a cracking group who distributes warez.
   • 2017, Oliver Markus Malloy, Bad Choices Make Good Stories: Going to New York:

     Spreaders uploaded the games to an online BBS to distribute the games as quickly as possible to as many people as possible.

• prereads, re-spread, redrapes, reparsed, respread