sprattle
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of sprattle
1815–25; metathetic variant of spartle to scatter, itself alteration of sparple ( Middle English < Old French esparpeiller < ?)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
List'ning the doors an' winnocks rattle; I think me on the ourie cattle, Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle O' winter war, And thro' the drift, deep-lairing sprattle, Beneath a scaur!
From Recreations of Christopher North, Volume I (of 2) by John Lyde Wilson
“I thought me on the ourie cattle, Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle O’ wintry war; Or thro’ the drift, deep-lairing, sprattle, Beneath a scaur.
From Life of Robert Burns by Thomas Carlyle
Cp. sprattle in Burns. > æ before r in ware. > a before r in karling.
From Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by George Tobias Flom
Ye see, we will suppose that any friend like yourself were in the deepest hole of the Nith, sand making a sprattle for your life.
From Redgauntlet by Sir Walter Scott
Or thro' the drift, deep-lairing, sprattle, Beneath a scaur.
From Robert Burns by John Campbell Shairp
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
