Chapter 85

Sports"man*ship, n. The practice of sportsmen; skill in field sports.

||Spor"tu*la (?), n.; pl. Sportulæ (&?;). [L.] A gift; a present; a ||prize; hence, an alms; a largess.

To feed luxuriously, to frequent sports and theaters, to run for the sportula.

South.

Spor"tu*la*ry (?), a. Subsisting on alms or charitable contributions. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

Spor"tule (?), n. [L. sportula a little basket, a gift, dim. of sporta a basket: cf. F. sortule.] A charitable gift or contribution; a gift; an alms; a dole; a largess; a sportula. [Obs.] Ayliffe.

Spor`u*la"tion (?), n. (Biol.) The act or process of forming spores; spore formation. See Illust. of Bacillus, b.

Spor"ule (?), n. [Dim. of spore.] (Biol.) A small spore; a spore.

Spor`u*lif"er*ous (?), a. [Sporule + -ferous.] (Biol.) Producing sporules.

Spot (?), n. [Cf. Scot. & D. spat, Dan. spette, Sw. spott spittle, slaver; from the root of E. spit. See Spit to eject from the mouth, and cf. Spatter.] 1. A mark on a substance or body made by foreign matter; a blot; a place discolored.

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

Shak.

2. A stain on character or reputation; something that soils purity; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish.

Yet Chloe, sure, was formed without a spot.

Pope.

3. A small part of a different color from the main part, or from the ground upon which it is; as, the spots of a leopard; the spots on a playing card.

4. A small extent of space; a place; any particular place. "Fixed to one spot." Otway.

That spot to which I point is Paradise.

Milton.

"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old! But something ails it now: the spot is cursed."

Wordsworth.

5. (Zoöl.) A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above its beak.

6. (Zoöl.) (a) A sciænoid food fish (Liostomus xanthurus) of the Atlantic coast of the United States. It has a black spot behind the shoulders and fifteen oblique dark bars on the sides. Called also goody, Lafayette, masooka, and old wife. (b) The southern redfish, or red horse, which has a spot on each side at the base of the tail. See Redfish.

7. pl. Commodities, as merchandise and cotton, sold for immediate delivery. [Broker's Cant]

Crescent spot (Zoöl.), any butterfly of the family Melitæidæ having crescent- shaped white spots along the margins of the red or brown wings. - - Spot lens (Microscopy), a condensing lens in which the light is confined to an annular pencil by means of a small, round diaphragm (the spot), and used in dark-field ilumination; -- called also spotted lens. -- Spot rump (Zoöl.), the Hudsonian godwit (Limosa hæmastica). -- Spots on the sun. (Astron.) See Sun spot, ander Sun. -- On, or Upon, the spot, immediately; before moving; without changing place.

It was determined upon the spot.

Swift. Syn. -- Stain; flaw; speck; blot; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish; place; site; locality.

Spot, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spotted; p. pr. & vb. n. Spotting.] 1. To make visible marks upon with some foreign matter; to discolor in or with spots; to stain; to cover with spots or figures; as, to spot a garnment; to spot paper.

2. To mark or note so as to insure recognition; to recognize; to detect; as, to spot a criminal. [Cant]

3. To stain; to blemish; to taint; to disgrace; to tarnish, as reputation; to asperse.

My virgin life no spotted thoughts shall stain.

Sir P. Sidney.

If ever I shall close these eyes but once, May I live spotted for my perjury.

Beau. & Fl.

To spot timber, to cut or chip it, in preparation for hewing.

Spot, v. i. To become stained with spots.

Spot"less, a. Without a spot; especially, free from reproach or impurity; pure; untainted; innocent; as, a spotless mind; spotless behavior.

A spotless virgin, and a faultless wife.

Waller.

Syn. -- Blameless; unspotted; unblemished; pure; immaculate; irreproachable. See Blameless.

-- Spot"less*ly, adv. -- Spot"less*ness, n.

Spot"ted, a. Marked with spots; as, a spotted garment or character. "The spotted panther." Spenser.

Spotted fever (Med.), a name applied to various eruptive fevers, esp. to typhus fever and cerebro-spinal meningitis. -- Spotted tree (Bot.), an Australian tree (Flindersia maculosa); -- so called because its bark falls off in spots.

Spot"ted*ness, n. State or quality of being spotted.

Spot"ter (?), n. One who spots.

Spot"ti*ness (?), n. The state or quality of being spotty.

Spot"ty (?), a. Full of spots; marked with spots.

Spous"age (?; 48), n. [OF. espousaige, from espouser. See Spouse, v. t.] Espousal. [Obs.] Bale.

Spous"al (?), a. [See Espousal, Sponsal, and Spouse.] Of or pertaining to a spouse or marriage; nuptial; matrimonial; conjugal; bridal; as, spousal rites; spousal ornaments. Wordsworth.

Spous"al, n. [See Espousal, Spouse.] Marriage; nuptials; espousal; -- generally used in the plural; as, the spousals of Hippolita. Dryden.

Boweth your head under that blissful yoke . . . Which that men clepeth spousal or wedlock.

Chaucer.

the spousals of the newborn year.

Emerson.

Spouse (?), n. [OF. espous, espos, fem. espouse, F. époux, épouse, fr. L. sponsus, sponsa, prop. p. p. of spondere, sponsum, to promise solemnly, to engage one's self. Cf. Despond, Espouse, respond, Sponsor.] 1. A man or woman engaged or joined in wedlock; a married person, husband or wife.

At last such grace I found, and means I wrought, That that lady to my spouse had won.

Spenser.

2. A married man, in distinct from a spousess or married woman; a bridegroom or husband. [Obs.]

At which marriage was [were] no person present but the spouse, the spousess, the Duchess of Bedford her mother, the priest, two gentlewomen, and a young man.

Fabyan.

Spouse (?), v. t. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.] To wed; to espouse. [Obs.]

This markis hath her spoused with a ring.

Chaucer.

Though spoused, yet wanting wedlock's solemnize.

Spenser.

She was found again, and spoused to Marinell.

Spenser.

Spouse"-breach` (?), n. Adultery. [Obs.]

Spouse"less, a. Destitute of a spouse; unmarried.

Spous"ess, n. A wife or bride. [Obs.] Fabyan.

Spout (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spouted; p. pr. & vb. n. Spouting.] [Cf. Sw. sputa, spruta, to spout, D. spuit a spout, spuiten to spout, and E. spurt, sprit, v., sprout, sputter; or perhaps akin to E. spit to eject from the mouth.] 1. To throw out forcibly and abudantly, as liquids through an office or a pipe; to eject in a jet; as, an elephant spouts water from his trunk.

Who kept Jonas in the fish's maw Till he was spouted up at Ninivee?

Chaucer.

Next on his belly floats the mighty whale . . . He spouts the tide.

Creech.

2. To utter magniloquently; to recite in an oratorical or pompous manner.

Pray, spout some French, son.

Beau. & Fl.

3. To pawn; to pledge; as, spout a watch. [Cant]

Spout, v. i. 1. To issue with with violence, or in a jet, as a liquid through a narrow orifice, or from a spout; as, water spouts from a hole; blood spouts from an artery.

All the glittering hill Is bright with spouting rills.

Thomson.

2. To eject water or liquid in a jet.

3. To utter a speech, especially in a pompous manner.

Spout, n. [Cf. Sw. spruta a squirt, a syringe. See Spout, v. t.] 1. That through which anything spouts; a discharging lip, pipe, or orifice; a tube, pipe, or conductor of any kind through which a liquid is poured, or by which it is conveyed in a stream from one place to another; as, the spout of a teapot; a spout for conducting water from the roof of a building. Addison. "A conduit with three issuing spouts." Shak.

In whales . . . an ejection thereof [water] is contrived by a fistula, or spout, at the head.

Sir T. Browne.

From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide.

Pope.

2. A trough for conducting grain, flour, etc., into a receptacle.

3. A discharge or jet of water or other liquid, esp. when rising in a column; also, a waterspout.

To put, shove, or pop, up the spout, to pawn or pledge at a pawnbroker's; -- in allusion to the spout up which the pawnbroker sent the ticketed articles. [Cant]

Spout"er (?), n. One who, or that which, spouts.

Spout"fish (?), n. (Zoöl.) A marine animal that spouts water; -- applied especially to certain bivalve mollusks, like the long clams (Mya), which spout, or squirt out, water when retiring into their holes.

Spout"less, a. Having no spout. Cowper.

Spout"shell` (?), n. (Zoöl.) Any marine gastropod shell of the genus Apporhais having an elongated siphon. See Illust. under Rostrifera.

Sprack (?), a. [Cf. Icel. sprækr sprightly, dial. Sw. spräk, spräg, spirited, mettlesome; or Gael. spraic vigor.] Quick; lively; alert. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Sprad (?), obs. p. p. of Spread. Chaucer.

Sprad"de (?), obs. imp. of Spread. Chaucer.

Sprag (?), n. [Cf. Icel. spraka a small flounder.] (Zoöl.) A young salmon. [Prov. Eng.]

Sprag, n. [See Spray a branch.] A billet of wood; a piece of timber used as a prop.

Sprag, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spragged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Spragging (?).] 1. To check the motion of, as a carriage on a steep grade, by putting a sprag between the spokes of the wheel. R. S. Poole.

2. To prop or sustain with a sprag.

Sprag, a. See Sprack, a. Shak.

Sprain (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sprained (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Spraining.] [OF. espreindreto press, to force out, F. épreindre, fr. L. exprimere. See Express, v. t., and cf. Spraints.] To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation; as, to sprain one's ankle.

Sprain, n. The act or result of spraining; lameness caused by spraining; as, a bad sprain of the wrist.

Sprain fracture (Med.), the separation of a tendon from its point of insertion, with the detachment of a shell of bone to which the tendon is attached.

Spraints (?), n. pl. [OF. espraintes, espreintes, F. épreintes from espreinte a desire to go to stool, from espreindre. See Sprain, v. t.] The dung of an otter.

Sprang (?), imp. of Spring.

Sprat (?), n. [OE. sprot, sprotte, D. sprot; akin to G. sprotte.] (Zoöl.) (a) A small European herring (Clupea sprattus) closely allied to the common herring and the pilchard; -- called also garvie. The name is also applied to small herring of different kinds. (b) A California surf-fish (Rhacochilus toxotes); -- called also alfione, and perch.

Sprat borer (Zoöl.), the red- throated diver; -- so called from its fondness for sprats. See Diver. -- Sprat loon. (Zoöl.) (a) The young of the great northern diver. [Prov. Eng.] (b) The red- throated diver. See Diver. -- Sprat mew (Zoöl.), the kittiwake gull.

<! p. 1393 !>

Sprawl (sprl), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sprawled (sprld); p. pr. & vb. n. Sprawling.] [OE. spraulen; cf. Sw. sprattla to sprawl, dial. Sw. spralla, Dan. spælle, sprælde, D. spartelen, spertelen, to flounder, to struggle.] 1. To spread and stretch the body or limbs carelessly in a horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out ungracefully.

2. To spread irregularly, as vines, plants, or tress; to spread ungracefully, as chirography.

3. To move, when lying down, with awkward extension and motions of the limbs; to scramble in creeping.

The birds were not fledged; but upon sprawling and struggling to get clear of the flame, down they tumbled.

L'Estrange.

Sprawls (?), n. pl. Small branches of a tree; twigs; sprays. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Spray (spr), n. [Cf. Dan. sprag. See Sprig.] 1. A small shoot or branch; a twig. Chaucer.

The painted birds, companions of the spring, Hopping from spray, were heard to sing.

Dryden.

2. A collective body of small branches; as, the tree has a beautiful spray.

And from the trees did lop the needless spray.

Spenser.

3. (Founding) (a) A side channel or branch of the runner of a flask, made to distribute the metal in all parts of the mold. (b) A group of castings made in the same mold and connected by sprues formed in the runner and its branches. Knight.

Spray drain (Agric.), a drain made by laying under earth the sprays or small branches of trees, which keep passages open.

Spray, n. [probably from a Dutch or Low German form akin to E. spread. See Spread, v. t.] 1. Water flying in small drops or particles, as by the force of wind, or the dashing of waves, or from a waterfall, and the like.

2. (Med.) (a) A jet of fine medicated vapor, used either as an application to a diseased part or to charge the air of a room with a disinfectant or a deodorizer. (b) An instrument for applying such a spray; an atomizer.

Spray condenser (Steam Engine) an injection condenser in which the steam is condensed by a spray of water which mingles with it.

Spray, v. t. 1. To let fall in the form of spray. [Poetic] M. Arnold.

2. To throw spray upon; to treat with a liquid in the form of spray; as, to spray a wound, or a surgical instrument, with carbolic acid.

Spray`board (?), n. (Naut.) See Dashboard, n., 2 (b).

Spread (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spread; p. pr. & vb. n. Spreading.] [OE. spreden, AS. sprædan; akin to D. spreiden, spreijen, LG. spreden, spreen, spreien, G. spreiten, Dan. sprede, Sw. sprida. Cf. Spray water flying in drops.] 1. To extend in length and breadth, or in breadth only; to stretch or expand to a broad or broader surface or extent; to open; to unfurl; as, to spread a carpet; to spread a tent or a sail.

He bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tent.

Gen. xxxiii. 19.

Here the Rhone Hath spread himself a couch.

Byron.

2. To extend so as to cover something; to extend to a great or grater extent in every direction; to cause to fill or cover a wide or wider space.

Rose, as in a dance, the stately trees, and spread Their branches hung with copious fruit.

Milton.

3. To divulge; to publish, as news or fame; to cause to be more extensively known; to disseminate; to make known fully; as, to spread a report; -- often acompanied by abroad.

They, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

Matt. ix. 31.

4. To propagate; to cause to affect great numbers; as, to spread a disease.

5. To diffuse, as emanations or effluvia; to emit; as, odoriferous plants spread their fragrance.

6. To strew; to scatter over a surface; as, to spread manure; to spread lime on the ground.

7. To prepare; to set and furnish with provisions; as, to spread a table.

Boiled the flesh, and spread the board.

Tennyson.

To spread cloth, to unfurl sail. [Obs.] Evelyn.

Syn. -- To diffuse; propogate; disperse; publish; distribute; scatter; circulate; disseminate; dispense.

Spread, v. i. 1. To extend in length and breadth in all directions, or in breadth only; to be extended or stretched; to expand.

Plants, if they spread much, are seldom tall.

Bacon.

Governor Winthrop, and his associates at Charlestown, had for a church a large, spreading tree.

B. Trumbull.

2. To be extended by drawing or beating; as, some metals spread with difficulty.

3. To be made known more extensively, as news.

4. To be propagated from one to another; as, the disease spread into all parts of the city. Shak.

Spread, n. 1. Extent; compass.

I have got a fine spread of improvable land.

Addison.

2. Expansion of parts.

No flower hath spread like that of the woodbine.

Bacon.

3. A cloth used as a cover for a table or a bed.

4. A table, as spread or furnished with a meal; hence, an entertainment of food; a feast. [Colloq.]

5. A privilege which one person buys of another, of demanding certain shares of stock at a certain price, or of delivering the same shares of stock at another price, within a time agreed upon. [Broker's Cant]

6. (Geom.) An unlimited expanse of discontinuous points.

Spread, imp. & p. p. of Spread, v.

Spread eagle. (a) An eagle with outspread wings, the national emblem of the United States. (b) The figure of an eagle, with its wings elevated and its legs extended; often met as a device upon military ornaments, and the like. (c) (Her.) An eagle displayed; an eagle with the wings and legs extended on each side of the body, as in the double-headed eagle of Austria and Russia. See Displayed, 2.

Spread"-ea`gle (?), a. Characterized by a pretentious, boastful, exaggerated style; defiantly or extravagantly bombastic; as, a spread-eagle orator; a spread-eagle speech. [Colloq.& Humorous]

Spread"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, spreads, expands, or propogates.

2. A machine for combining and drawing fibers of flax to form a sliver preparatory to spinning.

Spread"ing*ly, adv. Increasingly.

The best times were spreadingly infected.

Milton.

Sprech"er*y (?), n. [Cf. Gael. spreidh cattle.] Movables of an inferior description; especially, such as have been collected by depredation. [Scot.]

Spree (?), n. [Cf. Ir. spre a spark, animation, spirit, Gael. spraic. Cf. Sprack.] A merry frolic; especially, a drinking frolic; a carousal. [Colloq.]

Sprenge (?), v. t. [OE. sprengen, p. p. sprent, spreint, from AS. sprengen to sprinkle. See Sprinkle.] To sprinkle; to scatter. [Obs.] Wyclif (1 Pet. i. 2).

Spreng"el pump` (?). (Physics) A form of air pump in which exhaustion is produced by a stream of mercury running down a narrow tube, in the manner of an aspirator; -- named from the inventor.

Sprent (?), obs. p. p. of Sprenge. Sprinkled.

All the ground with purple blood was sprent.

Spenser.

Sprew (?), n. [Cf. D. sprouw, spruw.] (Med.) Thrush. [Local, U.S.]

Spreynd (?), obs. p. p. of Sprenge. Sprinkled.

When spreynd was holy water.

Chaucer.

Sprig (?), n. [AS. sprec; akin to Icel. sprek a stick. Cf. Spray a branch.] 1. A small shoot or twig of a tree or other plant; a spray; as, a sprig of laurel or of parsley.

2. A youth; a lad; -- used humorously or in slight disparagement.

A sprig whom I remember, with a whey-face and a satchel, not so many years ago.

Sir W. Scott.

3. A brad, or nail without a head.

4. (Naut.) A small eyebolt ragged or barbed at the point.

Sprig, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sprigged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sprigging (?).] To mark or adorn with the representation of small branches; to work with sprigs; as, to sprig muslin.

Sprigged (?), a. Having sprigs.

Sprig"gy (?), a. Full of sprigs or small branches.

Spright (?), n. [See Sprite.] 1. Spirit; mind; soul; state of mind; mood. [Obs.] "The high heroic spright." Spenser.

Wondrous great grief groweth in my spright.

Spenser.

2. A supernatural being; a spirit; a shade; an apparition; a ghost.

Forth he called, out of deep darkness dread, Legions of sprights.

Spenser.

To thee, O Father, Son, and Sacred Spright.

Fairfax.

3. A kind of short arrow. [Obs.] Bacon.

Spright, v. t. To haunt, as a spright. [Obs.] Shak.

Spright"ful (?), a. [Spright sprite + full.] Full of spirit or of life; earnest; vivacious; lively; brisk; nimble; gay. [Obs.] -- Spright"ful*ly, adv. [Obs.] Shak.

-- Spright"ful*ness, n. [Obs.]

Spoke like a sprightful gentlemen.

Shak.

Steeds sprightful as the light.

Cowley.

Spright"less, a. Destitute of life; dull; sluggish.

Spright"li*ness (?), n. The quality or state of being sprightly; liveliness; life; briskness; vigor; activity; gayety; vivacity.

In dreams, observe with what a sprightliness and alacrity does she [the soul] exert herself!

Addison.

Spright"ly (?), a. [Compar. Sprightlier (?); superl. Sprightliest.] [See Sprite.] Sprightlike, or spiritlike; lively; brisk; animated; vigorous; airy; gay; as, a sprightly youth; a sprightly air; a sprightly dance. "Sprightly wit and love inspires." Dryden.

The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green.

Pope.

Sprig"tail` (?), n. (Zoöl.) (a) The pintail duck; -- called also sprig, and spreet-tail. [Local, U.S.] (b) The sharp-tailed grouse. [Local, U.S.]

Spring (?), v. i. [imp. Sprang (?) or Sprung (&?;); p. p. Sprung; p. pr. & vb. n. Springing.] [AS. springan; akin to D. & G. springen, OS. & OHG. springan, Icel. & Sw. springa, Dan. springe; cf. Gr. &?; to hasten. Cf. Springe, Sprinkle.]

1. To leap; to bound; to jump.

The mountain stag that springs From height to height, and bounds along the plains.

Philips.

2. To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot.

And sudden light Sprung through the vaulted roof.

Dryden.

3. To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert.

Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring.

Otway.

4. To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.

5. To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped; as, a piece of timber, or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning.

6. To shoot up, out, or forth; to come to the light; to begin to appear; to emerge; as a plant from its seed, as streams from their source, and the like; -often followed by up, forth, or out.

Till well nigh the day began to spring.

Chaucer.

To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.

Job xxxviii. 27.

Do not blast my springing hopes.

Rowe.

O, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born.

Pope.

7. To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle.

[They found] new hope to spring Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked.

Milton.

8. To grow; to prosper.

What makes all this, but Jupiter the king, At whose command we perish, and we spring?

Dryden.

To spring at, to leap toward; to attempt to reach by a leap. -- To spring forth, to leap out; to rush out. -- To spring in, to rush in; to enter with a leap or in haste. -- To spring on or upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault.

Spring (?), v. t. 1. To cause to spring up; to start or rouse, as game; to cause to rise from the earth, or from a covert; as, to spring a pheasant.

2. To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly.

She starts, and leaves her bed, amd springs a light.

Dryden.

The friends to the cause sprang a new project.

Swift.

3. To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine.

4. To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard.

5. To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap.

6. To bend by force, as something stiff or strong; to force or put by bending, as a beam into its sockets, and allowing it to straighten when in place; -- often with in, out, etc.; as, to spring in a slat or a bar.

7. To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence.

To spring a butt (Naut.), to loosen the end of a plank in a ship's bottom. -- To spring a leak (Naut.), to begin to leak. -- To spring an arch (Arch.), to build an arch; -- a common term among masons; as, to spring an arch over a lintel. -- To spring a rattle, to cause a rattle to sound. See Watchman's rattle, under Watchman. -- To spring the luff (Naut.), to ease the helm, and sail nearer to the wind than before; -- said of a vessel. Mar. Dict. -- To spring a mast or spar (Naut.), to strain it so that it is unserviceable.

Spring, n. [AS. spring a fountain, a leap. See Spring, v. i.] 1. A leap; a bound; a jump.

The prisoner, with a spring, from prison broke.

Dryden.

2. A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by elasticity; as, the spring of a bow.

3. Elastic power or force.

Heavens! what a spring was in his arm!

Dryden.

4. An elastic body of any kind, as steel, India rubber, tough wood, or compressed air, used for various mechanical purposes, as receiving and imparting power, diminishing concussion, regulating motion, measuring weight or other force.

The principal varieties of springs used in mechanisms are the spiral spring (Fig. a), the coil spring (Fig. b), the elliptic spring (Fig. c), the half- elliptic spring (Fig. d), the volute spring, the India-rubber spring, the atmospheric spring, etc.

5. Any source of supply; especially, the source from which a stream proceeds; as issue of water from the earth; a natural fountain. "All my springs are in thee." Ps. lxxxvii. 7. "A secret spring of spiritual joy." Bentley. "The sacred spring whence and honor streams." Sir J. Davies.