▪ I. sprank1
In 6 spranck(e.
[perh. f. prank v.4, but mod. dial. a good sprank ‘a fair quantity’ is associated with sprank ‘a sprinkling’.]
A show or display.
| 1568 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 48 Where oft the flouds doe floe vpon the beaten banck; Their sandes debarre the grasse to groe, to spread his Aprill spranck. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 416 b, Besides a number of old notable men and no small sprancke of the newer sort also. |
▪ II. † sprank2 Obs.—1
[= MDu. spranke (Du. and WFris. sprank).]
A spark.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 326 b, The superstitions thereof [being] wholly rooted out, they would revive the lively sprankes [L. lumen] of the auncient Church being vtterly extinct. |