techn. (See quot. 1880.)
1812. Dubourdieu, Antrim, 197. This substance, howsoever it may be acquired, and which by bleachers is called sprit, adheres so closely to the rind … as to have eluded all the future processes … of the old mode of bleaching.
1880. Spons’ Encycl. Manuf., I. 518. The object of the rubbing … is to remove small specks of brownish matter called ‘sprits,’ which may appear here and there throughout the piece.
