north. dial. (and Sc.). [app. a metathetic form of SPRAT in the same sense.] A dwarf rush; a coarse rushy grass.
1614. Mem. St. Giles’s, Durham (Surtees), 44. For one thrave of spartes to the Bull house.
1792. Trans. Soc. Arts, X. 127. Wild marshy grass, rushes, sparts, bents, brambles and brushwood.
1829. Brockett, N. C. Gloss. (ed. 2), Spart, a dwarf rush; common on the Northern moors and wastes.
