468 
SPA 
SPATHESTER, an old chirurgical instrument, used to 
draw the prepuce over the glans. 
SPATHIUM [so denominated by Loureiro, from the Gr. 
enraOi'jv, a little sheath ; alluding lo the form of its calyx], 
in Botany, a genus of the class hexandria, order trigynia, 
natural order of inundato, Nai'des (Juss.) —Generic Cha¬ 
racter. Calyx: sheath stalked, of one leaf, roundish, spread¬ 
ing, single-flowered. Corolla none. Stamina: filaments six, 
short, inserted into the receptacle. Anthers roundish, of 
two-cells. Pistil: germen (superior) roundish, with four 
horns. Style none. Stigmas four, oblong, reflexed. Peri¬ 
carp: berries four, ovate, pointed, single-seeded. Seeds 
roundish.— Essential Character. Sheath roundish, stalked, 
single-flowered. Corolla none. Berries four, with single 
seeds. 
Spathium Chinense, or thong pin ngau of the Chinese.— 
The stem is erect, three feet high, herbaceous, with spread¬ 
ing, flaccid, furrowed branches. Leaves heart-shaped, lan¬ 
ceolate, five-ribbed, smooth, scattered, with clasping foot¬ 
stalks. Spikes linear, nearly terminal. Such is the descrip¬ 
tion of Loureiro, who conceives the above plant to be some¬ 
what akin to the Linnaean aponogeton, and also to potamo- 
geton.—Native of marshy places, near Canton in China. 
SPATHOSE, in Mineralogy, having a crystalline struc¬ 
ture. 
SPATHULARIA [from the spatulate shape of its head, 
consisting of only one species], in Botany, a genus of the 
class fungi, order cryptogamia natural order of fungi.— 
Essential Character. Club - shaped. Head compressed, 
membranous, decurrent at each side. 
Spathularia flavida, or yellow spathularia.—The stalk is 
about a finger’s length, half an inch in diameter, hollow, 
rather uneven, whitish. Head vertical, obtuse, hollow, some¬ 
what obovate, or inversely heart-shaped, pale buff, or yel¬ 
lowish, discharging innumerable minute seeds, in the form of 
smoke, from marginal pores.—Mr. Crowe first discovered it 
at Cossey, near Norwich, very abundant, growing erect, in 
tufts. 
SPATI Cape, the north point of the island of Cerigo. 
Lat. 36.34. N. long. 22. 49. E. 
To SPATIATE, v. n. [spatior, Lat.] To rove; to 
range; to ramble at large.—Confined to a narrow chamber, 
he could spatiate at large through the whole universe. 
Bent ley. 
To SPA'TTER, v. a. Q'pae, spit. Sax.] To sprinkle 
with dirt, or any thing offensive. 
The pavement swam in blood, the walls around 
Were spatter'd o’er with brains. Addison. 
To throw out any thing offensive.—His forward voice 
now is to speak well of his friend ; his backward voice is to 
spatter foul speeches, and to detract. Shakspeare. —To 
asperse; to defame. 
To SPA'TTER, v. n. To spit; to sputter as at any thing 
nauseous taken into the mouth. 
They, fondly thinking to allay 
Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit 
Chew’d bitter ashes, which the offended taste 
With spattering noise rejected. Milton. 
SPA'TTERDASHES, s. Coverings for the legs by which 
the wet is kept off. 
SPA'TTLE, s. [jpatl, Sax.] Spittle. Obsolete. —The 
spattle of their tongues. Bale. 
SPA'TTLING POPPY, s. The papaver spumeum. 
SPA'TULA, s. [ spatha, spathula, Lat.] A spattle or 
slice.— Spatula is an instrument used by apothecaries and 
surgeons in spreading plaisters. ’ fluincy. —In raising up the 
hairy scalp smooth with my spatula, I could discover no 
fault in the bone. Wiseman. 
SPA'VIN, s. [espavent, Fr., spavano, Italian.] This 
disease in horses is a bony excrescence or crust as hard as a 
bone, that grows on the inside of the hough, not far from 
S P E 
the elbow, and is generated of the same matter by which the 
bones or ligaments are nourished: it is at first like a tender 
gristle, but by degrees comes to hardness. Farrier’s Diet. 
See Farriery. 
They’ve all new legs and lame ones; one would take it. 
That never saw them pace before, the spavin. 
And springhalt reign’d among them. Shakspeare. 
SPA'VINED, adj. Diseased with spavin.—A fifth 
wondered what a plague I could do at the fair with a blind, 
spavined, galled hack, that was only fit to be cut up for a 
dog kennel. Goldsmith. 
SPAUNTON, a township of England, North Riding of 
Yorkshire; 7 miles north-west of Pickering. 
SPAW, s. [from Spaw in Germany, a place famous for 
mineral waters.] A mineral water. 
To SPAWL, v. n. [j-paethau, to spit, Saxon.] To 
throw moisture out of the mouth. 
What mischief can the dean have done him. 
That Traulus calls for vengeance on him ? 
Why must he sputter, spawl, and slaver it. 
In vain against the people’s favourite. Swift. 
SPAWL, s. Q-pacl, Saxon.] Spittle ; moisture ejected 
from the mouth. 
Of spittle she lustration makes; 
Then in the spawl her middle finger dips, 
Anoints the temple, forehead, and the lips. Dryden. 
SPA'WLING, s. Moisture thrown out of the 
mouth.—His marble floors with drunken spawlings shine. 
Congreve. 
SPAWN, s. [spene, spenne, Teut., spane, Old Eng. 
Rarely used in the plural. —The eggs of fish, or of 
frogs. 
Masters of the people. 
Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter 
That’s thousand to one good one ? Shakspeare. 
When the spawns on stones do lie. Fletcher. —Any 
product or offspring. In contempt. 
’Twas not the spawn of such as these 
That dy’d with Punick blood the conquer’d seas, 
And quasht the stern iEacides. Roscommon. 
To SPAWN, v. a. To produce as fishes do eggs.—Some 
report a sea-maid spawn'd him. Shakspeare. —To gene¬ 
rate ; to bring forth. In contempt.—What practices such 
principles as these may spawn, when they are laid out to the 
sun, you may determine. Swift. 
To SPAWN, v. n. To produce eggs as fish.—The fish 
having spawned before, the fry that goes down hath had 
about three months growth under ground, when they are 
brought up again. Brown. —To issue; to proceed. In 
contempt.—It is so ill a quality, and the mother of so many 
ill ones that spawn from it, that a child should be brought 
up in the greatest abhorrence of it. Locke. 
SPA'WNER, s. The female fish.—The barbel, for the 
preservation of their seed, both the spawner and the melter, 
cover their spawn with sand. Walton. 
SPAXTON, a parish of England, in Somersetshire; 4] 
miles west of Bridgewater. 
To SPAY, v. a. [spado, Latin.] To castrate female 
animals.—The males must be gelt, and the sows spay'd; the 
spay'd they esteem as the most profitable, because of the 
great quantity of fat upon the inwards. Mortimer. 
To SPEAK, v. n. pret. spake or spoke; part. -pass. 
spoken. [ppaecan, Saxon; sprekep, Teut.]—To utter 
articulate sounds; to express thoughts by words.— Speaking 
is nothing else than a sensible expression of the notions of 
the mind, by several discriminations of utterance of voice, 
used as signs, having by consent several determinate sig- 
nificancies. Holder. —To harangue; to make a speech.— 
Many of the nobility made themselves popular by speaking 
in parliament, against those things which were most grateful 
