Forms: α. 1, 4 spreot, 4–5 sprete, 7–9 spreet. β. 4, 7 spret, 5–7 sprett(e. γ. 5–6 spryt, sprytt, sprite (7 spright), 5, 7–8 spritt, 6– sprit. [OE. spréot, = MDu. (Du. and WFris.) spriet, MLG. spryet, spriet (hence G. spriet) and spreet, NFris. sprit, spret, ultimately related to SPROTE1 and SPROUT v.1]
1. A pole, esp. one used for propelling a boat; a punting-pole; † a spear.
α. c. 725. Corpus Gloss., C 609. Contis, spreotum.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 143. Trudes, uel amites, spreotas.
1023. in Thorpe, Charters, 318. Anes mannes lenge þe healt anne spreot on his hand and strecþ hine swa feor swa he mæʓ aræcan into þere sæ.
13[?]. St. Cristofer, 300, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881). 458. A lang sprete he bare in hande To strenghe him in þe water to stande.
13[?]. K. Alis., 858 (Linc. MS.). Þe þrid day þey gan aryue, Þey swymmed wiþ spreot…. And bryngiþ schipes to þe lond.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 12653. Thei brende bothe mast & wynlase, Sterne & stere, ore & spretes.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 470/2. Sprete, or qvante,… contus.
β. c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2754. Sone as þe schipmen seie him out lepen, hastili hent eche man a spret or an ore.
a. 1400. Octouian, 601. A sprette ouyr the bord they caste.
1530. Palsgr., 274/2. Sprette for watermen, picq.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XVIII. v. 111. Antoninus … set his course against our State and Common-wealth, not (as they say) with spret nor oare, with shooving, or haling,… but even with spred and full sayle.
1687. Shadwell, Tenth Sat. Juvenal, 38. Contus signifies a Quant or Sprett, with which they shove Boats.
γ. c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 181. Torrent undyr hys spryt [= spear] he sprent, And abowght the body he hyme hente.
a. 1450. Octavian, 469. Some hente an oore,… some a sprytt, The lyenas for to meete.
1583. Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., III. 126 b. This Arke … was rowed neither with sprites, nor ores,… but [driven] by wheeles wrought within her.
1606. Holland, Sueton., 116. A number of mariners, who with their sprits, poles and oares should beate … their carkasses.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, 321. Sprit, a pole to push a boat forward.
1903. G. Rooper, in Longman’s Mag., Jan., 216. You could not perceive when the flat bit of wood at the end of the sprit touched it [i.e., the bottom of a mere].
2. Naut. a. ‘A small boom or pole which crosses the sail of a boat diagonally from the mast to the upper hindmost corner of the sail, which it is used to extend and elevate’ (Falconer).
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 104. Wiȝt at þe wyndas [they] weȝen her ankres, Sprude spak to þe sprete þe spare bawe-lyne.
1399. Rolls of Parlt., III. 444/2. Par le rumper d’un cabel, rope, sprete, ou mast d’ascun Shoute.
1417. in For. Acc. 8 Hen. V., G/1. j dialle, j Soundynglyne, j Roffe Sprite in Balingera Regis.
1536. in R. G. Marsden, Sel. Pl. Crt. Adm. (1894), I. 54. Possessione virge, Anglice a yard or a spyryt [sic].
1716. Phil. Trans., XXIX. 497. This Machine I suspended from the Mast of a Ship, by a Spritt which was sufficiently secured by Stays to the Mast-head.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v., The lower end of the sprit rests in a sort of wreath or collar called the snotter.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxiv. 316. A stouter mainsail of fourteen-feet lift with a spreet eighteen feet long.
1913. Act 2 & 3 Geo. V., c. 31 § 39. A pilot flag … to be placed at the mast head, or on a sprit or staff.
b. (See quot.)
1846. Young, Naut. Dict., 293. A Sprit, or Spur, in a sheer-hulk is a spar for keeping the sheers out to the required distance.
3. attrib., as sprit pole, rig, staff, topmast, topsail, yard.
1485. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 49. Spritt yerds, j; Spritte sailes, j. Ibid. (1497), 300. Fore yerdes, j; sprete yerdes, j.
1611. Cotgr., Miquclot,… poore, pettie, vagabond Pedler, that with a spritstaffe crosses from place to place.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., vii. 31. Your Spret and Spret top-saile.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v. Yard, Sprit-topsail yard equal to the fore top gallant-yard.
1894. Outing, XXIV. 84/2. The sprit rig cannot be said to be pretty.
1903. G. Rooper, in Longman’s Mag., Jan., 216. Under the influence of the silent sprit-pole it seemed to move by some voluntary self-contained power.
