Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a saddle [SE spread, a coverlet; the saddle also spreads the rider’s legs].

1807		H. Tufts Autobiog. (1930) 292: Spread signifies a saddle.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

2. (UK/US Und., also spreaddum) butter.

1791		‘Flash Lang.’ in Confessions of Thomas Mount 19: Butter, a spread.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1840		Flash Mirror 20: A round o’ burnt tommy and spread at six mag.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 84: ‘The cove pinched a keeler of spread, and was pulled foul.’ [...] the fellow stole a tub of butter, and was arrested with it in his possession.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 127/2: Piles and hillocks of ‘spread’ and ‘sawney’ were here and there about the room, the spoils of the previous evening, for this was a den of female ‘sneaks’.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1887		Cornishman 6 Jan. 4/3: Specimens of mumpers' or tramps' talk [...] spreaddum, butter.

3. jam, marmalade or any similar addition to bread and butter.

1886		F.R. Stockton Mrs. Lecks 40: The one who gets the last biscuit will have somethin’ of a little spread on it .
1948		Amer. Butter and Cheese Rev. Dec. 6: The public wants a yellow fat spread for its bread [DA].

4. (also spread-out) a meal, esp. a sumptuous one; sometimes further defined as morning spread, breakfast etc; also as v. [by 20C the term was mainly facet./archaic, classically found in the children’s stories of Enid Blyton (1897–1968)].

1822		D. Carey Life in Paris 237: He was, next day, to give what we emphatically call a spread* (*Flash for Entertainment) and that some pigeons were expected to compose a part of the entertainment.
1829		Vidocq Memoirs (trans. W. McGinn) III 64: You peg away [...] as if you would crash your ivories (teeth;) one would think that you were tucking in at a regular spread.
1840		R. Barham ‘The Merchant of Venice’ in Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 51: Lord Bassanio, [...] after giving one spread / With fiddling and masques at the Saracen’s Head, / In the morning ‘made play’.
1849		Thackeray Pendennis I 329: We shall have a grand spread, Warrington. We shall meet all Bungay’s corps.
1856		B.H. Hall College Words (rev. edn) 443: spread. A feast of a more humble description than a Gaudy.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1860		Melbourne Punch 9 Aug. 7/1: ‘Slangiana’ [...] How I long for the breakfast spread / That puts a topper on my pride.
1866		Letters by an Odd Boy 162: A ‘handle,’ [may be] a title; ‘a hop,’ a dance; a ‘spread,’ a feast.
1871		L.H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 48: Spread, an informal supper or treat, especially if given to upperclass men.
1873		J. Greenwood In Strange Company 19: Next day I was present at a ‘spread’ at the Mission Hall of a much more gratifying description.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Feb. 6/4: The others fled / When they twigged the spread, / With their noses skyward slewed; / There were seven or eight / Went for whiskey straight, / And lord! how they grunted and phewed!
1888		A. Levy Reuben Sachs (2001) 17: There’s a spread in the dining room.
1890		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer II 5: An old sea-captain [...] was going to give a dance and a grand spread.
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 22: spread n. An informal banquet.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 64: spread, v. To give a banquet.
1900		Marvel XIV:344 June 13: I am invited to a grand spread tonight.
1910		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Picture-Book Christmas’ Sporting Times 24 Dec. 1/3: For the picture-book Christmas a bountiful spread / Is provided for all to partake.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 224: There was a big spread out at Glencree reformatory, Lenehan said eagerly.
1934		H. Miller Tropic of Cancer (1963) 50: The only way he seems to enjoy himself on his day off is to order a big spread.
1937		R. Westerby Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 167: We got to go to tea at old Wilson’s ’safternoon. Proper spread-out.
1941		B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 129: Sammy was blowing them to a spread at La Maze.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 50: Barbie, we’re going to have a big spread.
1959		A. Sillitoe ‘Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner’ in Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1960) 16: A real posh spread out of baskets and flasks.
1961		‘Frank Richards’ Billy Bunter at Butlins 97: You fellows shouldn’t have rushed off as you did. I’d have stood you a topping spread.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 42: And the spread! [...] it’s some of the best cooking you’d ever see.
2001		A. Sillitoe Birthday 224: The spread was laid before them.
2009		J. Joso Soothing Music for Stray Cats 19: What a lovely spread Sandra had put on.

5. an umbrella.

1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 309: To my out and-out friend and companion, Corinthian Tom, I give my spread, my summer-cabbage [...] more generally understood as my umbrella.
1871–82		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.

6. a woman’s shawl.

1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 8/2: They go in strong on the ‘sneak’ when dark, or at the break of the races, when in the confusion [...] a ‘tog’ or ‘spread’ is sure to change owners.
1873		Sl. Dict.

7. (US) a newspaper; thus a page, as in coverage of a news article or advertisement in a paper or magazine, e.g. a two-page spread; thus spread-crib, a printer’s or newspaper office.

1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 317/1: Spread, a newspaper. Spread Crib, a printing-office.
1877		Harper’s Mag. Dec. 50/1: His remarkable ability is best seen when occasion arises for a ‘spread’ [DA].
1952		W.R. Burnett Vanity Row 163: ‘And by the way, you’re doing a great job. Never saw such a spread in my life. Why, everybody’s forgotten about poor Frank already. He hardly gets a line’.
1987		W.D. Myers Crystal 78: ‘You’re really a fresh face, Marc said. [...] ’ ‘I can see a nice spread on you’.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 386: The Details spread was part of that whole process, one of the big shaping influences that would give the band their green light.

8. (US black) children; a family.

1941

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 17 May 11: I laid a spiel on the witchmen [...] about my ole saw and her spread.

9. (US) a prostitute.

1991

B. McCarthy Vice Cop 83: Miss Cindy became one of McCarthy’s best introductions into the glamorous side of vice, the ‘high-priced spreads,’ as they called the expensive hookers.