▪ I. sprong Now dial.
Also 5 spronge.
[Of obscure origin: cf. prong n.2]
= prong n.2 1 and 2. Hence sprongful.
| 1492 Ryman Poems lxxxv. 5 in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXXIX. 255 When dredefull deth to the shal come And smyte the with his spronge. 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans I. 146 She threw a fork at me that had three sprongs. 1870 Kennedy Fireside Stories 58 (E.D.D.), For every sprong-full he threw out, two came in. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. 704 One o' the sprongs is a-brokt out o' the dung clow. a 1904 in Eng. Dial. Dict. (Kent and Somerset). |
▪ II. sprong
obs. f. pa. tense and pple. of spring v.