[var. of SPIRT sb.2]
1. † a. A short spell of (something). Obs.
a. 1566. R. Edwards, Damon & Pithias, F ij. It is very … trimme, Tis Musselden ich weene; of fellowship let me haue an other spurt, Ich can drinke as easly now as if I sate in my shurte.
1613. Day, Dyall (1614), 241. O how great injustice is it … to deliver up that Soule to thy adversary the Divell, and all for a spurt of pleasure.
a. 1699. Bonnell, in W. Hamilton, Life (1703), II. 91. Those Qualities of Vanity and Worldliness, which I have contracted in this spurt of Health.
b. A short space of time; a brief period. Esp. in phr. for a spurt.
Freq. in the 17th c.; now dial. Not always clearly separable from next.
a. 1591. H. Smith, 2nd Serm. Lord’s Supper (1611), 90. To amend thy euill life, not when age commeth, or for a spurt, but to begin now, and last till death.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Rem. (1644), 121. To dispatch the whole manage of all eternity … in so short a spurt.
1694. W. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 282/2. And such kind of Medicines are not to be given only for a little while, for a Spurt and away, but assiduously for several Weeks together.
1706. T. Baker, Tunbridge Walks, I. i. But this course of life, sister, is but for a spurt: we must now think of settling our condition.
1798. Mme. D’Arblay, Lett., 10 Dec. Herschel has been in town for short spurts, and back again, two or three times.
1895. Jrnl. Amer. Folk-Lore, VIII. 37 (E.D.D.). ‘Excuse me for a spurt.’
2. A brief and unsustained effort; a sudden outbreak or spell of activity or exertion.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1592), 874. Some come to God as if they did fetch fire, a spurt and away, like a messenger which is gone before he haue his answeare.
1643. Tuckney, Balm of Gilead, 30. A short spurt doth not try me, but the length and hardnesse of the way will at last tell me what leg I halt on.
1654. Fuller, Comm. Ruth (1868), 154. After a spurt in their calling for some few hours, they relapse again to laziness.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., II. 115. Although the savages held out,… yet, for a spurt, the Englishmen were more nimble and speedy.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Dec., 2/1. Not with a fitful spurt, but year in, year out, do these thousands of … lay helpers toil.
1885. Huxley, in Life (1900), II. vi. 90. Quinine … has given me a spurt for the last two days.
b. Const. of.
1791. R. Mylne, 2nd Rep. Thames, 11. The Millers … having a Spurt of Business to do, were using all the Water as fast as possible.
1792. Mary Wollstonecr., Rights Wom., vii. 293. I do not forget the spurts of activity which sensibility produces.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, II. lx. 172. One of those men who seem born to surprise the world by a spurt of prosperity.
1868. Daily News, 8 July, 4/4. Weak governments are like weak people; they put on spurts of energy and independence now and then just to show how strong they are.
c. A short spell of rapid movement; a marked or sudden increase of speed attained by special exertion.
1787. ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsem. (1809), 46. The Doctor went off at a spurt.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., xi. An easy gait—two, forty-five—Suits me;… Perhaps, for just a single spurt, Some seconds less would do no hurt.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xiv. (1889), 134. Their boat … dipped a little when they put on anything like a severe spurt.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 844. It is hard to say what happens during [bicycling] spurts or at the outset of an excursion.
d. transf. A marked increase or improvement in business; a sudden advance or rise of prices, etc.; also, the period during which this lasts.
1814. Stock Exchange Laid Open, 25. When the Jobbers find the spurt, as they call it, is over.
1880. Sat. Rev., 1 May, 565. Men of business instinctively felt what was coming, and, buying up large stocks at the lowest quotations, realized fortunes when the spurt came.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 17 Nov., 10/1. It is clear that the recent spurt in the price of the shares was unwarranted.
e. A spell of gaiety; a frolic.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, ix. After that spurt I went back to Melbourne.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 286. Puts me in mind of one of our Hurryghur dances. We used to have such jolly spurts at the old station.
3. By spurts: a. In or with brief unsustained or spasmodic efforts; fitfully, spasmodically. † Also by fits and spurts, by fits and starts.
1605. Chapman, All Fooles, II. i. [He] hath stolne, By his meere industry, and that by spurts, Such qualities as no wit else can match With plodding at perfection every houre.
1653. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 523. I am like to bee 3 or 4 months in a yeare at Claydon & that only by fits & spurts.
1660. R. Coke, Just. Vind., 21. Forsooth it is by spurts, and not long enough to be accounted a settled Magistrate.
1882. Atlantic Monthly, L. 753. He [a negro] can work hard for a while ‘by spurts.’
b. In intermittent jets. (Cf. SPURT sb.3 1.)
1644. Digby, Nat. Bodies, xxvi. (1658), 293. When a wound is made in the heart, blood will gush out by spurts at every shooting of the heart.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 507. A sudden constriction takes place, and the urine is voided by spurts, and sometimes by drops only.
4. Naut. A short spell of wind; = SPIRT sb.2 2.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. III. iv. 37. When we come abreast of the Head-Lands, we … see the Breez curling on the Water on both sides of us, and sometimes get a spurt of it to help us forward.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 148. We made the best of every little Spurt of Wind.
5. slang or dial. A small amount or quantity.
1859. in Slang Dict., 100.
1889. in Surrey Gloss. (1893), 39. I had a little spurt of drink, that was all.
6. U.S. A quick and sudden dash on the part of wild-fowl; a flight of this nature.
1874. J. W. Long, Amer. Wild-fowl, i. 37. It is often desirable, where ducks are flying in spurts,… to load as fast as possible.
