sprat
/spɹæt/ noun, verb
Forms sprats spratting spratted
- noun Any of various small, herring-like, marine fish in the genus Sprattus, in the family Clupeidae.
- noun Any of various similar fish of other genera.
- noun (by extension) Anything petty or insignificant.
- noun (UK, slang, obsolete) A sixpence.
- verb (transitive, historical) To manure (land) with sprats (the fish).
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English sprotte, from Old English sprot. Older source is unknown. Cognate with German Sprotte, Dutch sprot. Compare sprout.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [OE. sprot, sprotte, D. sprot; akin to G. sprotte.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sprat”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details