sprat

American  

[sprat] / spræt /

noun

plural

sprats,

plural

sprat

1. a species of herring, Clupea sprattus, of the eastern North Atlantic.

2. a small or inconsequential person or thing.

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sprat British  

/ spræt /

noun

1. a small marine food fish, Clupea sprattus, of the NE Atlantic Ocean and North Sea: family Clupeidae (herrings) See also brisling

2. any of various small or young herrings

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Etymology

Origin of sprat

1590–1600; variant of earlier sprot, Middle English, Old English (cognate with German Sprott ); apparently same word as Old English sprott sprout, twig (for the two meanings cf. sprag ²); akin to Old English spryttan to sprout

Example Sentences

Jack Sprat may eat no fat, but I wonder how he’d weigh in on boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

From New York Times • Sep. 24, 2021

Writing the two women as if they were Jack Sprat and his wife would feel reductive if it weren’t for all the complications Broder throws in the mix.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2021

Jack Sprat: “Ho, I’d veto any keto-eating credo. You can yak, but fat is wack. I’d rather snack on ipecac. You don’t know Jack!”

From Washington Post • Apr. 2, 2020

Getting slimmer and slimmer and trimmer and trimmer, Behold, Mrs. Sprat had reduced!

From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2016

But Charleton was one of the most active members of the Royal Society in its early years, and his idiolect, tamed and domesticated by Boyle and Sprat, has become the language of science.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton