spoom, to sail before the wind. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 96; Beaumont and Fl., Double Marriage, ii. 1 (Master).
spoon-meat, broth. Middleton, The Witch, iv. 1 (Almachildes).
spoorn, some kind of hobgoblin. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate); Denham Tracts (ed. 1895, ii. 77); the spoorne, Scot, Disc. Witches, 153.
spousayles, a marriage, wedding. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 12, § 2 (ed. Croft, ii. 142); spousals, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 407. OF. espousailles; L. sponsalia, pl.
sprag, quick, alert. Merry Wives, iv. 1. 84. In prov. use in the north country, Worc. and the west (EDD.). ‘Sprag’ is a later form of ‘sprack’, in common prov. use in various parts of England. Cp. Norw. dial. spræk, fresh, lively (Aasen).
spraints, the dung of the otter, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 73, p. 201; sprayntes, id., c. 37, p. 98; Maister of Game, c. 11; Howell, Parl. of Beasts, 8 (Davies, 162). In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). [C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xviii.] F. ‘esprainctes, espreinctes, dung of the otter’ (Cotgr.); épreintes de la loutre (Hatzfeld). OF. espreindre, to press out, L. exprimere.
sprent, pp. sprinkled. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 45. In prov. use in Scotland and the north country (EDD.). ME. spreynd, also spreynt, sprinkled (Wyclif, Heb. ix. 13; Rev. xix. 13), pp. of sprengen, to sprinkle, OE. sprengan.
spring. A spring garden, a garden in which a concealed spring was made to spout jets of water over a visitor, when he trod upon a particular spot. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Pt. I, sc. 1 (Sophocles).
spring, a dance-tune. Fletcher, Prophetess, v. 3 (3 Shepherd). In prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Spring, 9). ME. spring, a merry dance (Chaucer, Hous Fame, 1235).
spring-halt, a lameness in which a horse twitches up his leg. Hen. VIII, i. 3. 13.