[f. SPRINT v.]
1. dial. (See quots.)
a. 1790. Pegge, Derbicisms, I. 66. A man layd hold of a hare upon her form, and she gave a sprint. Ibid. (c. 1800), Suppl. Grose, Sprunt, or Sprint, a spring in leaping, and the leap itself. Derb.
2. A short spell of running, rowing, etc., at full speed.
1865–. in Lanc. and Derb. glossaries.
1871. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rur. Sports, (ed. 9), II. VII. i. 539/1. At the commencement of training for sprints.
1887. Field, 19 Feb., 247/3. A strong wind … blowing down the straight, greatly interfered with the runners in the sprints.
1903. Times, 14 March, 14/5. [They had] a few rowing sprints to vary their ordinary exercise work.
transf. 1895. Westm. Gaz., 23 Oct., 3/2. It may still seem … that there is too much of a ‘sprint’ in the last act.
3. attrib., as sprint course, race, -racing, etc.
1864. Saunders, News Letter, Sprint Race between Ford and Rogers.
1867. Waugh, Owd Blanket, 82. Kempy … was a famous ‘sprint-runner,’… well known all over the country side.
1883. Standard, 18 June, 2/4. He … may … be dubbed the champion of the equine world over sprint courses.
1885. B. Hastie, in Longman’s Mag., VI. 508. Summoning all my memories of the science of sprint-racing, I tore along, head up, chest out, elbows squared.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XXI. 61/1. Sheffield … may be termed the home of sprint running.
