spreath
English edit
Etymology edit
Scots, from Scottish Gaelic sprédh, spré, from Middle Irish preid, preit (“booty”) (plus mobile s-), borrowed from Latin praeda (“plunder, spoils; profit; prey”), thus a doublet of prey. Per one hypothesis, also a doublet of spree.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
spreath (countable and uncountable, plural spreaths)
- (Scotland, obsolete) A raid in order to steal cattle.
- 1836, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 3, page 426:
- It was then as much the scene of continual spreaths, liftings, reavings, and herriments, as the Border country itself.
References edit
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “spree”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.