a. ? Obs. [ad. L. spērāt-us, pa. pple. of spērāre to hope.]
1. Of debts: Having some likelihood of being recovered; not desperate.
1551. Will of R. Studlaye (Somerset Ho.). Sperate debtes.
a. 1625. Cope, in Gutch, Coll. Cur., I. 122. Which [debts] were good, which were bad, which sperate, which desperate, no man knew.
1697. in New Jersey Arch., Ser. I. (1901), XXIII. 83. A negro maid servant and debts sperate and desperate.
1710. in Ecton, St. Q. Anne’s Bounty (1721), 108. We have therefore spent much Time … in distinguishing between the sperate and desperate Debts of the Clergy.
1798. Washington’s Reports, I. 169. Outstanding debts, distinguishing such as are sperate from such as are supposed to be desperate.
2. In general use: Giving or leaving room for hope; of a promising nature.
1808. Ld. Ellenborough, in 10 Rev. Rep. (1893), 718. If you think there is anything sperate in it, I will save the point.
1824. Cowen’s Rep. (N. Y. State Supreme Crt.), 106. Every vessel has a point of time at which it passes from a Sperate to a desperate state, or arrives at a situation of unseaworthiness.
