Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1100-1200
Origin: Perhaps from shatter

scatter

 verb
     
scat‧ter [intransitive and transitive]
1 if someone scatters a lot of things, or if they scatter, they are thrown or dropped over a wide area in an irregular way
scatter (something) over/around/across etc something
Scatter the onions over the fish.
The flowers fell and scattered on the ground.
2 if a group of people or animals scatter, or if something scatters them, they move quickly in different directions:
The sound of gunfire made the crowd scatter in all directions.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
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