Now rare or Obs. Also 5 spreyne. [app. a back-formation from spreynd(e, spreynt(e, pa. t. and pa. pple. of SPRENGE v.] trans. † a. To sprinkle. b. Agric. To sow (seeds, etc.) with the hand. Hence Spraining vbl. sb.2
c. 1440. Palladius on Husb., XI. 161. That spryngith soone yf aysel on hem reyne—I mene on hem al light yf hit me spreyne.
1750. W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., I. I. 51. The other had a Seedsman to sprain his pease in every Thorough or Furrow.
1763. Museum Rust., I. 261. A seeds-man carries them in a box, and sprains them thinly out of his hand.
1799. [A. Young], Agric. Linc., 130. On other lands he sprains in the seed by hand, in every third furrow.
1847. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VIII. I. 62. The seed is sown under the furrow in the ‘spraining’ method; one seedsman to two ploughs.
