▪ I. sprat, n.1
(spræt)
Also 7 spratt, sprate.
[Later form of sprot1.]
1. A small sea-fish, Clupea Sprattus, common on the Atlantic coasts of Europe.
| 1597 Deloney Canaans Calamitie Wks. (1912) 432 One sprat to us is sweeter gotten gaines, Then so much siluer, as this house can hold. a 1625 Fletcher Bloody Brother ii. ii, A plump Vintner Kneeling, and offring incense to his deitie, Which shall be only this, red Sprats and Pilchers. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 225 Sprats..are squalid, leane, and not of copious aliment. 1727 Swift City Shower Wks. 1755 III. ii. 40 Drown'd puppies, stinking sprats,..and turnip tops, come tumbling down the flood. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi France & Italy I. 204 Fresh anchovies..dressed like sprats in London. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames xv. 436 Sprats and Herrings are caught only during a short season. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 320 Forty bushels of sprats serve for an acre of land. |
b. collect. Fish of this species.
| 1611 Florio, Affumate, blote hearings, dried sprate. 1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 37 In a condition more appropriate to the desired object than when the sprat and herring were thrown over arable land. 1881 Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 13 Perch, Gurnards, Smelts, Pike, Herring, Sprat, and Eel. |
c. As a specific name.
| 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 295 The sprat grows to about the length of five inches. 1837 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 195 The Sprat very much resembles the herring, except in size. 1865 Couch Brit. Fishes IV. 109 The Sprat is known in the German Ocean and the Baltic, and from thence round the British Islands. 1896 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 489 The much smaller sprat..differs by the absence of vomerine teeth. |
2. One or other of various small fishes, usually one resembling a sprat.
| 1603 G. Owen Pembrokeshire (1891) 123 Spratte or sand eele. 1871 Kingsley At Last vi, The yellow-billed sprat [Alosa Bishopi]..is usually so poisonous that ‘death has occurred from eating it’. 1882 Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 274 Stolephorus compressus, ‘Sprat’. 1883 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 232 Sprat..is in places erroneously employed for the young of the herring. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 277 Rhacochilus toxotes... This species is called ‘Alfione’ at Soquel, ‘Sprat’ at Santa Cruz. |
3. fig. a. Applied to persons, usually as a term of
contempt.| 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. vi. 113 When his disguise and he is parted, tell me what a sprat you shall finde him. 1605 Tryall Chev. ii. i. in Bullen Old Pl. III. 289 Bowyer a Captayne? a Capon,..a lame haberdine, a red beard Sprat, a Yellow-hammer. 1882 Macm. Mag. XLV. 394 Bare-legged sprats of all shapes and sizes dance in the surf. 1901 G. Douglas House w. Green Shutters 155 It was a downcome..to pack in among a crowd of the Barbie sprats. |
b. A small amount, a mere morsel.
| 1815 J. Adams Wks. (1856) X. 129 Five millions would be but a sprat for the nourishment of leviathans. |
c. In phrases denoting the venturing of a small expenditure in the hope of a large gain.
| 1856 Reade Never too Late lix, Did you never hear of the man that flung away a sprat to catch a whale? 1864 N. & Q. 3rd Ser. VI. 495/1 Give a Sprat to catch a Mackarel. 1876 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 Jan. 7/2 He is said to have actually sold certain classes of articles below prime cost. That, no doubt, was a little hazardous. It was safe only on the principle of throwing out a sprat to catch a herring. |
4. slang. A sixpence.
It is doubtful if the application in
quot. 1857 is correct.
| 1839 Slang. Dict. 34 Sprat, sixpence. 1857 Morn. Chron. 2 Dec. (Encycl. Dict.), Several Lascars were charged with passing sprats, the slang term applied to spurious fourpenny pieces, sixpences, and shillings. 1902 H. Lawson Childr. Bush 6 The crown [of the hat] was worn as thin as paper by the quids,..bobs and tanners or sprats..that had been chucked into it. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
sprat-catcher,
sprat-fishery,
sprat-fishing,
sprat-gridiron,
sprat-net,
sprat-seine,
sprat-tinning;
sprat-day (see
quot.);
† sprat-fare, sprat-fishing;
sprat-herring,
-weather (see
quots.).
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. (Grosart) V. 242 Those Colchester oyster-men, or whiting-mungers and *sprat-catchers. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 69 Sprats..are generally introduced about the 9th November. Indeed, ‘Lord Mayor's day’ is sometimes called ‘*sprat day’. |
| c 1568 in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. Var. Coll. IV. 302 [300 mariners for the] *spratte fare [taking yearly 3,000 lasts of sprats]. |
| 1883 F. A. Smith Swedish Fisheries 9 The revenue of the herring and *sprat fisheries of the whole country may be estimated. |
| 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 277/1 *Sprat-fishing commences in the early part of November. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Sprat-gridiron, a gridiron made specially for broiling sprats. |
| 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 579 The ‘*Sprat’ Herring of New York, Clupea indigena. |
| 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 3799, Mackerel, herring, pilchard, and *sprat nets. |
| 1883 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log ix, From the small mesh required, a *sprat-seine of any size is costly. |
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 8 Feb. 7/1 The opening of the *sprat-tinning industry at Deal..has greatly enhanced the value of these fish. |
| 1847 Halliw. s.v., The dark roky days of November and December are called *sprat weather, from that being the most favorable season for catching sprats. |
b. In names of birds, as
sprat-borer,
-diver,
-loon,
-mowe (see
quots.).
| 1785 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds III. ii. 342 This bird [Speckled Diver] is pretty frequent..on the river Thames, where it is called by the fishermen Sprat Loon, being often seen in vast numbers among the shoals of that fish. 1802 Montagu Ornith. s.v. Diver, Sprat Loon. Greatest Speckled Diver. Cobble. 1855 Trans. Philol. Soc. 37 (Norfolk words) Sprat-mowe, Herring-gull. 1864 Atkinson Prov. Names Birds, Sprat-borer, Prov. (Essex) name for young of Red-throated Diver—Colymbus septentrionalis. 1892 ‘Son of Marshes’ Lond. Town ix. 153 To mention a few of the family of the divers, we have the sprat diver [etc.]. |
Hence
sprat v. intr., to fish for sprats. Also
ˈspratting vbl. n.| 1883 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log ix, A seine is also used for spratting in bays where the shore is clean. 1893 Daily News 14 Jan. 3/4 The spratting season has been a complete failure as far as Essex fishermen are concerned. 1893 Times 20 Nov. 10/1 The Walmer lifeboat was also driven into Dover.., after rescuing the Steven and Sarah with two hands, who were out spratting. |
▪ II. † sprat, n.2 Obs. rare.
[Of obscure origin: cf. scrat n.1] An evil spirit.
| 1432 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 419 Therefore there were ij. Merlynes; oon of them callede Ambrosius, geten of a spratte at Kaermerthyn. 1549 Sir T. Smith Exam. W. Wycherly (MS. Lansd. 2) fol. 26, He..hath used the crystal to invocate the sprat called Scariot..; which sprat hath given him knowledge an hundred time. |
▪ III. sprat, n.3 Sc. [Cf. spart2 and sprot2.] A kind of rush or rush-like grass.
| a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 336 The fluir laid witht greine cherittis, witht sprattis, medwartis and flouris. 1780 Young Tour Irel. 137 It kills all sprats (juncus) and produces a fine sweet herbage. 1792 Statist. Acc. Scot. IV. 518 That species of grass which grows on marshy ground, commonly called spratt, is much used for fodder. 1853 G. Johnston Bot. East. Borders 199 There is not much danger of lairing where Sprats grow abundantly. |
▪ IV. † sprat, n.4 Obs. rare.
(See
quot.)
| 1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching 211 Lime is by no means fit for discharging the oil in the cloth, but for cleaning it of the dead part, commonly called sprat. |
▪ V. sprat, v. see
sprat n.1