sprig

[ sprig ]
See synonyms for sprig on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a small spray of some plant with its leaves, flowers, etc.

  2. an ornament having the form of such a spray.

  1. a shoot, twig, or small branch.

  2. Facetious. a scion, offspring, or heir of a family, class, etc.

  3. a youth or young fellow.

  4. a headless brad.

  5. Metallurgy.

    • a small peg for reinforcing the walls of a mold.

    • a metal insert, used to chill certain portions of cast metal, that becomes an integral part of the finished casting.

verb (used with object),sprigged, sprig·ging.
  1. to mark or decorate (fabrics, pottery, etc.) with a design of sprigs.

  2. to fasten with brads.

  1. Horticulture. to propagate a plant, especially grass, by planting individual stolons.

  2. Metallurgy. to reinforce the walls of (a mold) with sprigs.

  3. to remove a sprig or sprigs from (a plant).

Origin of sprig

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English sprigge (noun); origin uncertain; sense “peg” perhaps of distinct origin; cf. sprag1, spray2

Words Nearby sprig

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sprig in a sentence

  • It rocks because their recipes are straight-up, no pretentions, no useless sprig of rosemary.

    Fresh Picks | Nadia G | November 10, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Even the celebrated shot of Uncle Paulie cutting garlic with a razor blade has a sprig of parsley in the foreground.

    Goodfellas Turns 20 | Sean Macaulay | September 21, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Nur looked like a kind little old man, and he wore a sprig of wild thyme in his hood.

    Honey-Bee | Anatole France
  • I have written at least a dozen about this cavern, and I've described it without even forgetting a single sprig of moss.

    Honey-Bee | Anatole France
  • It appeared that the fact of her having been the landlady of the Holly sprig made no difference in his case.

    A Bicycle of Cathay | Frank R. Stockton
  • Delicate, refined, perfectly poised, and Kitty beside her like a sunflower to a sprig of heliotrope!

  • Then Marie began to explain, telling all about the candles, the sprig of box and the face of the corpse.

British Dictionary definitions for sprig

sprig

/ (sprɪɡ) /


noun
  1. a shoot, twig, or sprout of a tree, shrub, etc; spray

  2. an ornamental device resembling a spray of leaves or flowers

  1. a small wire nail without a head

  2. informal, rare a youth

  3. informal, rare a person considered as the descendant of an established family, social class, etc

  4. NZ another name for stud 1 (def. 7)

verbsprigs, sprigging or sprigged (tr)
  1. to fasten or secure with sprigs

  2. to ornament (fabric, wallpaper, etc) with a design of sprigs

  1. to make sprays from (twigs and branches)

Origin of sprig

1
C15: probably of Germanic origin; compare Low German sprick, Swedish sprygg

Derived forms of sprig

  • sprigger, noun
  • spriggy, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012