a. [f. SPRIG sb.2] Abounding in sprigs or small branches; suggestive of a sprig or sprigs.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, 610. The flowers stand at the top of the spriggie braunches.
1611. Cotgr., Scionneux,… twiggie, spriggie.
1669. W. Simpson, Hydrol. Chym., 258. Plants … begin … to shoot forth spriggy roots.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 334. I like not … when the ends of the wool on the backs of the sheep twist, and stand spriggy. Ibid., 365. When hazle grows spriggy in the body, and shoots forth from the sides of the bark.
1826. Blackw. Mag., XIX. 244. A vine-leaf pattern perhaps—or something spriggy.
1854. Meall, Moubray’s Poultry, 71. The comb large with very deeply indented ridge, presenting almost a ‘spriggy’ appearance.
