Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
- Pages
- 1,538
- Illustrations
- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Spōrt'īve, a. p. 1276Tending to, or provocative of, sport; gay, frolicsome; playful. Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court? Shak.Spōrt'ive-ly, adv. p. 1277In a sportive manner; gayly; merrily; playfully.Spōrt'ive-ness, n. p. 1277The state of being sportive; playfulness; mirth; merriment.Spōrt'less, a. p. 1277Without sport or mirth; joyless.Spört'ling, n. p. 1277A little person or creature engaged in sports. When again the lambkins play— Pretty sportlings, full of May. Philips.Spōrts’man, n. p. 1277One who pursues the sports of the field; one who hunts, fishes, and fowls. 2. One skilled in the sports of the field.Spōrts'man-ship, n. p. 1277The practice of sportsmen; skill in field sports.Spōr'tū-lā, n. p. 1277A gift; a present; a prize; hence, an alms. “To feed luxuriously, to frequent sports and theaters, to run for the sportula.” South.Spōrt'ū-la·ry, a. p. 1277Subsisting on, or receiving, sportules, or alms. [Obs.]Spŏrt'ūle, n. p. 1277A charitable gift or contribution; a gift; an alms; a dole. [Obs.] Ayliffe.Spōr'ule, n. p. 1277(Bot.) A small spore. Gray.Spōr'ū-lif'er-ōus, a. p. 1277(Bot.) Producing sporules. Craig.Spōr'y-ar, n. p. 1277A spurrier. [Obs. and rare.]Spŏt, n. p. 1277A mark on a substance made by foreign matter; a speck; a blot; a place discolored. Out! damned spot. Out! I say. Shak. 2. Hence, a stain on character or reputation; something that soils purity…Spŏt, v. t. p. 1277To make visible marks upon with some foreign matter; to discolor; to stain; as, to spot a garment; to spot paper. 2. To mark or note so as to insure recognition; as, to spot a criminal. [Colloq.] 3.…Spŏt'less, a. p. 1277Without a spot; especially, free from reproach or impurity; pure; untainted; innocent; as, a spotless mind; spotless behavior. “A spotless virgin, and a faultless wife.” Waller. Syn. — Blameless…Spöt'less-ly, adv. p. 1277In a spotless manner.Spŏt'less-ness, n. p. 1277The state or quality of being spotless; freedom from spot or stain; freedom from reproach.Spöt'ted, a. p. 1277Marked with spots. “The spotted panther.” Spencer.Spöt'ted-ness, n. p. 1277The state or quality of being spotted.Spöt'ter, n. p. 1277One who makes spots.Spŏt'ti-ness, n. p. 1277State or quality of being spotty.Spöt'ty, a. p. 1277Full of spots; marked with discolored places.Spous'age, n. p. 1277The act of espousing. [Obs.]Spous'al, a. p. 1277Pertaining to a spouse, or to a marriage; nuptial; matrimonial; conjugal; connubial; bridal; as, spousal rites; spousal ornaments. I, long before the blissful hour arrives, Would chant, in lonely…Spous'al, n. p. 1277Marriage; nuptials; — generally used in the plural; as, the spousals of Hippolita.Spouse, n. p. 1277A man or woman engaged or joined in wedlock; a married person, husband or wife. At last such grace I found, and means I wrought, That I that lady to my spouse had won. Spencer. 2. A married man, in…Spouse, v. t. p. 1277To wed; to espouse. [Rare.] She was found again, and spoused to Marinell. Spencer.Spouse'-brēach, n. p. 1277Adultery. [Obs.]Spouse'less, a. p. 1277Destitute of a spouse; having no husband or wife; unmarried; as, a spouseless king or queen.Spous'ess, n. p. 1277A married woman; a bride or wife. [Obs.] Fabyan.Spout, n. p. 1277A pipe or tube for conducting a fluid; a pipe through which any thing runs, as water from a roof. 2. A pipe, or a projecting mouth of a vessel, used in directing a stream of a liquid poured out; as…Spout, v. t. p. 1277To throw out, as liquids through a narrow orifice or pipe; as, an elephant spouts water from his trunk. Next on his belly floats the mighty whale . . . He spouts the tide. Creech. 2. To throw out, as…Spout, v. i. p. 1277To issue with violence, as a liquid through a narrow orifice, or from a spout; to send forth a stream; as, water spouts from a cask or a spring; blood spouts from a vein. All the glittering hill Is…Spout'-fish, n. p. 1277(Zoöl.) A fish or marine animal that spouts water; — applied especially to several species of bivalve mollusks, which spout or squirt out water when retiring to their holes.Spout'less, a. p. 1277Having no spout. There the pitcher stands, A fragment, and the spoutless tea-pot there. Cooper.Sprăck, a. p. 1277Quick; alert. [Prov. Eng.] Nares.Sprāg, n. p. 1277A young salmon. [Prov. Eng.] Grose.Språg, n. p. 1277A sprig; also, a billet of wood.Sprāg, v. t. p. 1277(Mining & Railways.) To stop, as a car, by putting a sprag in the spokes of the wheel, when on a steep grade. R. S. Poole.Sprāg, a. p. 1277Vigorous; sprightly; sprack. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] “A good sprag memory.” Shak.Sprāin, v. t. p. 1277To weaken, as a joint or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion; to overstrain; to stretch, as muscles or ligaments injuriously, but without luxation or dislocation.Sprāin, n. p. 1277The weakening of the motive power of a part, by sudden and excessive exertion; an excessive strain of the muscles or ligaments of a joint, without dislocation.Sprāints, n. pl. p. 1277The dung of an otter. C. Kingsley.Sprăng, imp. p. 1277of spring, for sprung. See SPRING.Sprāt, n. p. 1277(Ichth.) A small fish (the Clupea sprattus), closely allied to the herring and pilchard.Sprawl, v. i. p. 1277To spread and stretch the body carelessly in an horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out or struggling. 2. To spread irregularly, as vines, plants, or trees; to spread ungracefully…Sprawls, n. pl. p. 1277Small branches; twigs. Halliwell.Sprāy, n. p. 1277A small shoot or branch; a branch of a tree; a twig. “Two foot-growing sprays.” Shak. 2. A collective body of small branches; as, the tree has a beautiful spray.Sprāy, n. p. 1277Water flying in small drops or particles, as by the force of wind, or the dashing of waves, or of a waterfall, and the like. 2. (Founding.) A side channel of the runner of a flask, made to distribute…Spray-drain p. 1277a drain made by laying under earth the spray or small branches of trees, which keep passages open.Sprĕad, v. t. p. 1277To extend in length and breadth, or in breadth only; to stretch or expand to a broader surface or extent; to open; to unfurl; as, to spread a carpet or a table-cloth; to spread a tent or sail. Here…Sprēad, v. i. p. 1277To extend in length and breadth in all directions, or in breadth only; to be extended or stretched. Plants, if they spread much, are seldom tall. Bacon. Governor Winthrop, and his associates at…Sprēad, n. p. 1277Extent; compass. I have a fine spread of improvable land. Addison. 2. Expansion of parts. No flower has that spread of the woodbine. Bacon. 3. A cloth used as a cover for a table or a bed; a table…Sprēad'-ēa'gle, n. p. 1277(Her.) An eagle, or the figure of an eagle, with its wings elevated and its legs extended;—often met as a device in heraldry, upon military ornaments, and the like.Sprēad'-ēa'gle, a. p. 1277Characterized by a pretentious, boastful, exaggerating style; defiantly or extravagantly bombastic; as, a spread-eagle orator; a spread-eagle speech. [Colloq. U. S.]Sprēad'-ēa'gle, n. p. 1277(Com.) The operation of one who buys an amount of stock on time, and then bargains to sell the same stock within the same time at a higher rate, expecting to receive a profit from the difference…Sprēad'er, n. p. 1277One who, or that which, spreads, extends, expands, or propagates.Sprēad'ing-ly, adv. p. 1277Increasingly. The best times were spreadingly infected. Milton.Sprēch'er-y, n. p. 1277Movables of an inferior description; especially, such as have been collected by depredation. [Scot.] “The quantity of useless sprechery which they have collected on their march.” W. Scott.