[f. SPIRT sb.2 Cf. SPURT v.3] intr. To make a spurt; to turn or dart about quickly; to exert oneself for a short time.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 53. Our Herring smoker … spirted ouer seas to Rome with a Pedlers packe of them.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, I. III. ix. 216. The short running and quick turning of the rabbits, which spirt about even more sharply than hares.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. iv. They comes out about twice or three times a week, and spirts a mile alongside of us.
