[f. SPAT sb.1 The use of the form as a pa. pple. (in quots. 1677) is prob. due to association with SPIT v.1]
1. intr. and trans. Of oysters: To spawn.
1667. Sprat, Hist. Royal Soc., 307. With a knife they gently raise the small brood [of oysters] from the Cultch, and then they throw the Cultch in again, to preserve the ground for the future, unless they be so newly Spat that they cannot be safely severed from the Cultch. Ibid., 309. The Oysters are sick after they have Spat.
1865. Rep. Sea Fisheries Comm., II. 1359/2. Some of the oysters … spat as late as the end of September. The general time of spatting, however, is much earlier.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 77/1. As oysters … have been known to spat very late in the year.
† 2. intr. Of bees: To breed. Obs.
1634. J. Levett, Ordering of Bees, 25–6. The Bees both spat faster and preserve and nourish their brood the better. Ibid., 61.
