▪ I. sprite, n.
(spraɪt)
Forms: α. 4, 5–7 Sc., spreit (5 spreyt, spreyte), 5–6 sprete, 6 spreet(e; 5–6 spret, 6 sprette. β. 5, 7 spryt (6 sprijt), 5–7 spryte, 5– sprite. (See also spright n.1) γ. 5 spritte, 5–7 sprit, 8 sp'rit.
[ad. OF. esprit, or similarly reduced from OF. esperit(e, AF. spirit(e spirit n. Cf. spirt n.1]
1. † a. = spirit n. in various senses. Obs. exc. arch.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 15667 Þof þe spreit ai redi be Þe flesche be fus to plight. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiii. (George) 796 As he hyr þis had talde, Þe spret vn to god scho ȝald. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5099 Eneas..spake full dispitously with a sprete felle. c 1450 Holland Howlat 620 That terrible felloun my spreit affrayd. 1526 Tindale Acts xvii. 16 His sprete was moved in hym. 1535 Coverdale Haggai i. 14 So the Lorde waked vp the sprete of Zorobabel..and the sprete of Iesua. 1584 Hudson Du Bartas' Judith ii. 467 Whose living spreet Reviving spreads, and through all things doth fleet. c 1615 Sir W. Mure Misc. Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 30 Erect my puir dejected spreit, Prostrat befoir thy mercies feete. |
| β c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Lawrence) 450 Fore contryt spryt euir ȝet was to my god thankful sacrifice. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 66 Rightwys philosophers..lightend with godys spryt of wyt. 1502 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione i. v. (1893) 157 To rede the scripture with as great fervour of spryte as it was receyued firste. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 229 It is profitable for those that are..troubled in sprite or minde. 1607 Rowlands Earl of Warwick (Hunterian Cl.) 7 This man compos'd of courage, full of sprite, Of hard adventures, and of great designs. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. c 41 Lord of Light, Without whose gracious Aid and constant Sprite No Labours prosper. 1730 Shenstone Ode to Health 43 Forth with jocund sprite, I run. 1761 Gray Odin 29 Who thus afflicts my troubled sprite? [1847 S. Judd Margaret iii. (1851) 417 So speaks my sprite.] 1928 R. Campbell Wayzgoose ii. 53 As she bent above her chosen Knight A lovely fragrance ravished all his sprite. |
| γ 14.. Chaucer's L.G.W., Ariadne 2069 (Camb. MS.), For whiche myn sprit goth to do me shame. 1442 Cursor M. 170 (Bedford MS.), Iesus after his fastyng long was temtid wiþ þe sprit [of] wrong. 1565 Stapleton Fort. Faith 122 We see how farre the faith of the first vj. C. yeares, and the sprit of Protestants do agree. 1605 1st Pt. Jeronimo iii. i. 73 This should not be mong men of vertuous sprit. Pay trybute thou, and receiue peace and writ. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 44/1 To his fair Spoils his Sprit again yet give. |
† b. pl. = spirit n. 17.
Obs.| α c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 176 He agayn in greiff him grippyt sayr, Quhill spretis failȝeid ner. 1533 Bellenden Livy Prol. (S.T.S.) I. 1 Quykin þe spretis of my dull Ingyne. 1566 Drant Horace, Sat. iv. C, How say you, haue not comedies theyr vigors, and their spreets? |
| β 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. ii. i. G vij, That poet..That can stere vp my passions or quicke my sprytes at all. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. David cxix. iii, I the pleasures of my sprites Will unto thy doctrine bind. |
c. = spirit n. 9.
rare—1.
| 1844 Disraeli Coningsby iv. xii. He generally contrived..to steal down with some congenial sprites to the magical and illumined chamber [sc. the billiard-room]. |
2. = spirit n. 2 b and 3,
spright n.1 2.
| α a 1400–50 Alexander 4779 He was sodanly sesid & slane with a sprete. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 1262 Quhar art thow, spreyt? ansuer, sa God the sawe. 1526 Tindale Mark vi. 49 They supposed yt had bene a sprete and cryed oute. 1575 Gamm. Gurton i. ii, As though they had been taken with fairies, or else with some ill spreet. 1611 Sir W. Mure Misc. Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 11 For he, now Cupid, now a spreit, did liue me. |
| β 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 623 God is spedful in speche & a spryt clene. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ix. (Barthol.) 88 Wikit spryt, trawale hym no mare! c 1460 Fortescue Absol. & Lim. Mon. vi. (1885) 121 Wherfore the holy sprites and angels..haue more poiar than we. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. (1811) 325 Fyry dragons, and sprytys, were seen fleynge in the ayer. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 100 marg. note, A remedye ageynst walkyng sprites. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 530, I wot not what sprites and fearefull apparitions. 1675 Cotton Burlesque upon B. 51 Where must I lye anights? For I am monstrous fraid of Sprites. 1728 Young Love of Fame v. 509 In vain the cock has summon'd sprites away, She walks at noon. a 1796 Burns ‘As on the Banks’ vi, ‘Nae eastlin blast,’ the sprite replied. a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. iii. House-warming 118 She verily thought that hobgoblins and sprites were there. 1877 Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 12 The most arch, mischievous, impertinent little sprite in the world. |
| Comb. 1609 E. Hoby Let. to Mr. T. H. Pref. p. iii, They will not stick to set out our Ladies picture (as one of your sprite-speakers did) with one of your best faces. |
| γ c 1400 Destr. Troy 4297, I will tell..How sprittis in hom spake to qwho þat spirre wold. 1565 Stapleton Fort. Faith 85 The whole churche..by no strength of wicked sprits..can be ouerthrowen. 1728 Ramsay Monk & Miller's Wife 245 Syne as the sp'rit gangs marching out, Be sure to lend him a sound rout. |
† 3. = spirit n. 6 and 6 b.
Obs.| 13.. Coer de L. 394 Upon his schelde a dove whyte, Sygnyfycacioun of the holy spryte. 1526 Tindale Eph. iv. 30 Greve not the holy sprete off God. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 143 By Hys Holy Spryte, from whom..commyth al gudnes. c 1600 Forman in MS. Ashmole 802 fol. 143 b, Governe me with thy holy sprite. |
▪ II. † sprite, v. Obs. In 6
Sc. sprete.
[f. prec.] trans. To inspire
with courage.
| 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scotl. (1821) II. 97 Aidane..spretit thame with sic curage, that thay..put the Saxonis..to flicht. Ibid. 389 This victorie was sa plesand..that every man wes spretit with new curage. |