sprit

Meanings

Noun

• A spar between mast and upper outer corner of a spritsail on sailing boats.
• A shoot; a sprout.

Verb

• To sprout; to bud; to germinate, as barley steeped for malt.
• To throw out with force from a narrow orifice; to eject; to spurt out.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• bowsprit

Origin

• From Old English sprēot ("pole, pike, spear"), from Proto-Germanic *sprut-. Compare Dutch spriet ("a sprout").
• Akin to German spritzen.