† spoorn Obs. rare.
Also 6 sporne.
[Of obscure origin.]
A special kind of spectre or phantom.
| 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. vii. xv. (1886) 155 They have so fraied us with..Robin goodfellow, the spoorne, the mare, the man in the oke,..and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our own shadowes. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxxiv. (1592) 546 Thereupon also did some of the Gentiles surmise, that they had crucified a Ghost or Sporne in steade of him. [a 1627 Middleton, etc. Witch i. ii, Dwarfs, Imps, the Spoorn, the Mare, the Man i' th' Oak.] |