Also 7 spatt. [Of obscure origin; perh. related to SPIT v.1]
1. The spawn of oysters or other shell-fish.
[1376–7. Rolls of Parlt., II. 369/1. Il destruit … le spat des oistres, musklys, & d’autres Pessons.]
1667. Sprat, Hist. Royal Soc., 307. In the Month of May the Oysters cast their Spaun (which the Dredgers call their Spat).
1687. Lond. Gaz., No. 2272/4. The Laws for the preservation of the Spawn and Spatt of Oysters in the River of Burnham.
1721. Phil. Trans., XXXI. 251. From the Spat or Seed of which, it is most probable,… all the Bottom at length … became cover’d with Oysters.
1796. Statist. Acc. Scot., XVII. 70. In May the oysters cast their spat or spawn.
1817. in J. Evans, Excurs. Windsor, 448. For the preservation of the brood and spat of Oysters, and for otherwise regulating the said fishery.
1826. Sir A. Carlisle, Hunter. Oration, 19. The whole brood are associated together, by being involved in a viscid slime, and in that state called ‘The Spat.’
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 76. To save the bulk of the spat when free is the great object of oyster culture.
fig. 1881. Blackw. Mag., March, 272. Many square miles of the South and West of Ireland are but spawning beds of misery. The spat is nourished by the poor laws.
Comb. 1891. W. K. Brooks, Oyster, 112. Shells are very effective as spat-collectors.
b. In pl. in the same sense.
1667. Sprat, Hist. Royal Soc., 307. One Shell having many times 20 Spats.
1777. Pennant, Brit. Zool., IV. 89. The oysters, or their spats, are brought to convenient places, where they improve in taste and size.
1854. S. P. Woodward, Mollusca, II. 254. The oysters spawn in May and June, and the fry (‘spats’) are extensively collected.
† 2. The eggs of bees. Obs.
1634. J. Levett, Ordering of Bees, 14. The Bees haue first brought out the Drone spat, and after that their owne spat. Ibid., 61. The spat or brood of the Bees are nourished by honey and water.
1657. S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., 47. Their young is called spat, that which the bees spit forth or deliver by their mouth.
