spotted 
Spotted seal, a leopard-seal. Spotted shrike, spurge, 
tortoise, wintergreen, etc. See the nouns. Spotted 
tringa. Same as spotted ondpAMr. Spotted yellow 
warbler, the magnolia warbler, Di'ndrceva utaculnsa, the 
male of which is much spotted. The adult male is lieh- 
yellow helow, with white crissum, heavily streaked with 
black; the rump is bright^yellow, the back nearly black, 
the crown clear ash; there is a white circumocular and 
postocular stripe, and the wing- and tail-feathers are 
marked with conspicuous white spots. This bird is 5 
inches long and 7J in extent of wings; it inhabits eastern 
North America, abounds in woodland, breeds from New 
England northward, builds a small neat nest in low coni- 
fers, and lays 4 or 5 white eggs spotted with reddish-brown. 
Also called black-and-ijellaw warbler. See cut on preced- 
ing jaw. 
spotted-bass (spot'ed-bas), . Same as driini 1 , 
11 (c). 
spottedness (spot 'ed-nes), n. The state or qual- 
ity of being spotted. 
spotted-tree (spot'ed-tre), H. A small Austra- 
lian tree, FtiiHlcmia titr;elt'rkitiHa (/'. maculosa), 
remarkably spotted from the falling off of the 
outer bark in patches. 
spotter (spot'er), w. [< spot + -er 1 .] One who 
or that which spots; specifically, one who is 
employed to shadow suspicious or suspected 
persons; a detective. [Slang.] 
A conductor . . . had a private detective arrested for 
following him about, and the spotter was fined ten dollars 
by a magistrate. The American, VI. 338. 
spottiness (spot'i-nes), . The state or char- 
acter of being spotty. 
spotting (spot'ing), n. In lot., same as necro- 
sis, 2. 
Spotty (spot'i), a. [<. MIS. spotty, spotti; < spot 
+ -!/*.] 1. Full of spots; marked with spots ; 
spotted. 
Thou ne sselt najt maky none sacreflce to God of oxe, 
ne of saep, thet by [be] spotty. 
Ayenbite of Tnwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 192. 
To descry new lands, 
Rivers, or mountains in her spotty globe. 
Milton, P. L., i. 291. 
2. Occurring in spots or irregularly : as, hops 
are said to run spotty when the crops are un- 
equal, ffalliwell. 3. Patchy; lacking har- 
mony of parts ; without unity. 
spounget, . A Middle English form of sponge. 
spousaget (spou'zaj), . [< spouse + -age.'] 
Espousal; marriage. 
The manne shall gene vnto the womanne a ring, and 
other tokens of spousaye. 
Marriage Service, Prayer-Book of Edward VI., 1549. 
spousal (spou'zal), a. and n. [In E. first as a 
noun, < ME. spousail, spousaile, spousaille, spo- 
sail, espousaile, < OF. espousailles, < L. sponsa- 
lia, betrothal, neut. pi. of sponsalis, pertaining 
to betrothal, < sponsus, a betrothal: see spouse, 
espousal.] I. a. Pertaining to marriage or 
espousal; nuptial; bridal; connubial. 
Now the Rabbi, receiving a Ring of pure gold, . . . puts 
it on the brides finger, and with a loud voice pronounceth 
the spousail letters. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 214. 
The well-wrought, lovely spousal ring. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 203. 
II. . Marriage; nuptials; espousal: often 
used in the plural. 
Boweth your nekke under that blisful yok 
Of aoveraynetee, nought of aervyae, 
Which that men clepeth spousail or wedlok. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 59. 
By our spousals and marriage begun, . . . 
Rue on this realm, whose ruin is at hand. 
Surrey, ..Eneid, Iv. 407. 
spouse (spouz), n. [< ME. spouse, spowse, spusc, 
spus = Icel. spusa, pusa, pusi, < OF. espos, 
spans, F. epoux, m., OF. espouse, espuse, F. 
epouse, f., = 8p. Pg. esposo, m., esposa, f., = 
It. sposo, m., sposa, f.. < L. sponsus, m., sponsa, 
f., one betrothed, a bridegroom, a bride (cf. 
sponsus, a betrothal), prop. masc. and fern. pp. 
of spondere, promise : see sponsor.] A married 
person, husband or wife ; either one of a mar- 
ried pair. 
The soule is widewe thet haueth vorloren hire spus, thet 
is ... Crist. Ancren Rlwle, p. 10. 
For her the spouse prepares the bridal ring, 
For her white virgins hymeneals sing. 
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 219. 
spouset (spouz), v. t. [< ME. spousen, spowsen, 
spusen, < OF. espouser, F. tpouscr = Pr. espozar 
= Pg. esposar = It. sposare, < LL. spons/ire, be- 
troth, espouse : see spouse, n., and cf. espouse, 
v.] 1. To take for a husband or a wife ; wed; 
espouse. 
Ye ryde as coy and atille as doth a mayde 
Were newe spoused, sitting at the bord. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Clerk's Tale, 1. 3. 
They led the vine 
To wed her elm ; ahe, spoused, about him twines 
Her marriageable arms, Milton, P. L., v. 216. 
2. To givo in 
Kyng William of Scotland did his doubter spouse 
To the eric of lloloyn. Kub. of Gloucester, p. 210. 
spouse-breacht (spouz'brech), . [< ME. xpous- 
liri'chi', npinisi'lirirltr, xpHxbruche; < spouse + 
breach.] Adultery. 
But oonis he sailed a weddid wijf 
In spouKebricke that hadde doon mys. 
lliluna to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. 8.), p. 47. 
spousehedet, >< *<< s/nxaifiiood. 
spousehoodt (spouz'hud), n. [< ME. spousln>il, 
also spousehede ; < '.spouse + -hooit.] The state 
of wedlock; matrimony. 
The eldore of the tuo in spomhod he nome. 
Rob. of Gloucester, p. 307. 
spouseless (spouz'les), a. [< xpuune + -less.'] 
Without a spouse ; unmarried or widowed. 
The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord. 
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 11. 
spousesst (spou'zes), n. [< ME. spowsesse ; < 
spouse + -ess.] A bride or wife ; a married 
woman. 
At whiche marriage was no persones present but the 
spowse. the spowsesse, the duches of Bedforde her moder, 
ye preest, two gentylwomen, and a yong man to helpe the 
preest synge. Fabyan, Chron., an. 1(164. 
spousingt (spou'zing), . [< ME. spoicsyngc, 
spusing; verbal n. of spouse, v.~\ The act of 
marrying; wedding; espousal; marriage. 
Loke to thi doujtren that noon of hem be lorn ; . . . 
And geue hem to spowsynge aa soone as the! been ablee. 
Babees Book(E. E. T. S.), p. 46. 
spout (spout), i'. [< ME. spouten, spoicten = MD. 
spitijten, T). spuiten. spout, = Sw. sputa, a dial, 
var. of spruta, squirt, spout, sprout, etc.: see 
sprout. A similar loss of r occurs in speak. 
Cf. sputter.] I. intrans. 1. To issue with force, 
as a liquid through a narrow orifice, or from a 
spout; spurt: as, blood spo uts from an artery. 
Like a raving torrent, struggling amongst the broken 
rocks and lease free passages, at length he spouts down 
from a wonderfull height into the valley below. 
Sandys, Travailes, p. 73. 
2. To discharge a fluid in a jet or continuous 
stream ; send out liquid as from a spout or 
nozle ; specifically, to blow, as a whale. 
With youre mouthe ye vse nowther to squyrt nor epowt. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. 3.), p. 135. 
When the larger Cetacea come up to breathe, the ex- 
pired vapor suddenly condenaea into a cloud ; and, if ex- 
piration commencea before the spiracle is actually at the 
surface, a certain quantity of spray may be driven up along 
with the violent current of the expelled air. This givea 
rise to the appearance termed the spouting of Whales, which 
doea not arise, as it is commonly aaid to do, from the 
straining off of the aea-water awallowed with the food, and 
its expulsion by the nostrils. Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 348. 
3. To speak volubly and oratorically ; talk or 
recite in a declamatory manner, especially in 
public; speechify. [Colloq.] 
For anything of the acting, spouting, reciting kind I 
think he has always a decided taste. 
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xlii. 
II. trans. 1 . To pour out in a jet and with 
some force; throw out as through a spout or 
pipe: as, an elephant spouts water from his 
trunk. 
A conduite cold into it bringe aboute. 
Make pipes water warme inwarde to spoute. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.)> p. 40. 
Your statue spouting blood in many pipes. 
Shale., 3. C.,il. 2.85. 
2. To cause to spurt or gush out. 
From the dry stones he can water snout. 
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 6. 
3. To utter volubly or grandiloquently. 
Pray, spout some French, son. 
Beau, and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 4. 
4. To pawn; pledge. See spout, n.,2. [Slang.] 
The dona are going to spout the college plate. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, II. i. 
5. To furnish or provide with a spout, in any 
sense : as, to spout a roof; to spout a tea-kettle. 
spout (spout), n. [< ME. spoute, spowte = MD. 
spuyte, D. spuit = Sw. spruta, a spout : see spout, 
v., and cf. sprout, n.] 1. A pipe, tube, or trough 
through which a liquid is poured, and which 
serves to guide its flow. Similar tubes, etc., are 
uaed for finely divided solids, as grain. The spout of a 
small vessel, as a pitcher, may be a mere fold or doubling 
of the rim, or may be a piece put on the outside, a notch 
having been cut in the ilin to allow the liquid to pass, or 
may be a closed tube, as in a tea-pot or aftaba. See cut 
under mill. 
She dreamt to-night she saw my statua, 
Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts, 
Did run pure blood. Shak., J. C., 11. 2. 77. 
The walla surmounting their roofes, wrought thorow 
with potsheards to catch and strike down the refreshing 
winds ; having spowtn of the same. 
Sandys, Travailea, p. 116. 
sprackly 
2. A lift or shoot in a pawnbroker's shop; hence, 
vulgarly, the shop itself. 
Pawnbrokers, . . . before spouts were adopted, used ;i 
hook to lift the articles offered in pawn. 
X. and Q., 7th aer., VII. 56. 
3. A continuous stream of fluid matter issuing, 
actually or seemingly, from a pipe or nozle; a 
jet or column, as of water. 
Before this grotto ia a long ponle into which ran divers 
spouts of water from leaden escollop basins. 
Evelyn, liiary, Feb. 27, 1644. 
Specifically (a) A waterspout. 
They say furthermore that in certeyne places of the aea 
they sawe certeyne stremes of water, which they caule 
spouten, faulynge owt of the ayer into the sea. 
/(. Eden, First Books on America (ed. Arber), p. 386. 
(6) The column of spray or vapor emitted from the spout- 
hole of a whale during the act of expiration, resembling 
the escape of ateam from a valve. 
4. The spout-hole of a whale. 5. A short un- 
derground passage connecting a main road with 
an air-head : a term used in the thick coal-work- 
ings of South Staffordshire, England Up the 
spout, in pawn, see def. 2. [Slang.) 
His pockets, no doubt, 
Being tnrn'd inside out, 
That his mouchoir and glovea may be put up the spout. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 16. 
spouter (spou'ter), H. [< spout, v., + -eri.] 1. 
One who or that which spouts, (a) Something that 
sends forth a jet or stream of fluid matter. 
The flowing-wells of the Baku district, In the energy 
with which they throw out the oil and the quantity so pro- 
jected, far exceed even our largeat American spouters. 
Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXIII. 77. 
(&) One who apeaks grandiloquently or oratorically ; a mere 
declaimer ; a speechifler. [Colloq. ] 
The quoters imitate parrota or profeaaed spnuters, in com- 
mitting worda only to memory, purposely for the sake of 
oatentation. V. Knox, Winter Eveninga, xxxii. 
2. Anexperienced whaleman. [Nautical slang.] 
The spouter, as the sailors call a whaleman, had sent up 
his main top gallant mast and set the sail, and made sig- 
nal for us to heave to. 
/(. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Maat, p. 86. 
spoilt-fish (spout'fish), n. A bivalve mollusk 
which squirts water through its siphons, as the 
common clam, razor-shell, and many others. 
spout-hole (spout'hol), n. 1. An orifice for the 
discharge of a liquid. 2. The spiracle or blow- 
hole of a whale or other cetacean. The number 
of spout-holes differs in different species, thesperm-whalea 
and porpoises having one, and the right whales, bowheada, 
finbacks, aulphur-bottoma, etc., two. The nostrils of the 
walrus are also sometimes called 
apout-holes. 
spoutless (spout'les), a. [< 
spout + -less.] Having no 
spout, as a pitcher. Coicper, 
Task, iv. 776. 
spout-Shell (spout'shel), n. A 
shell of the family Aporrhai- 
dse, as Aporrhais pes-pelecani, 
the pelican's-foot. See also 
cut under Aporrliais. 
SpOWTget. A Middle English 
form of spurge 1 ; spurge?. 
Spp. An abbreviation of spe- 
cies (plural). 
S. P. Q. K. An abbreviation of the hatiu Sena- 
tus I'opulusque Romanus, the senate and the 
people of Rome. 
sprach. v. and H. See spraich. 
sprachle, >. t. See sprackle. 
sprack (sprak), a. [Also dial, spray; < ME. 
sprac, < Icel. sprsekr, also sparkr, sprightly, = 
Norw. spreek = Sw. dial, sprak, sprag, sprdker, 
cheerful, talkative, noisy. Cf. spark 2 , spry.] 
Sprightly; lively; brisk; alert. [Prov. Eng. 
and Scotch.] 
Mrs. Page. He ia a better acholar than I thought he was. 
Evans. He is a good sprag memory. 
Shak., M. W. of W., Iv. 1. 84. 
If your Royal Highness had seen him dreaming and 
dozing about the banka of Tully Veolan like an hypochon- 
driac person, . . . you would wonder where he hath aae 
suddenly acquired all thta fine sprack festivity and jocu- 
larity. Scott, Waverley, xliii. 
sprackle (sprak'l), r. i. ; pret. and pp. sprackled, 
ppr. sprackliiig. [Also spraclde, spraickle, 
sprauchlc; prob. < Icel. spraukla, sprokla, mod. 
gprikla, sprawl; freq. of a verb represented by 
Sw. sparka = Dan. sparke, kick. Cf. sprangle 
and sprawl*.] To clamber; get on with diffi- 
culty. [Scotch.] 
Sae far I iprachled up the brae, 
I dinner'd wi' a Lord. 
Burn*, On Meeting with Lord Daer. 
spracklyt, a. [ME. spraklicJie, < Icel. sprseklit/r. 
sprightly, < sprxkr, sprightly: see sprack and 
-ly 1 .] Same as sprack. 
xxi. 10. 
Spout-shell (Apor- 
rhais pes-ptltcanf). 
Piers Plowman (C), 
