sprat
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English sprotte, from Old English sprot. Older source is unknown. Cognate with German Sprotte, Dutch sprot. Compare sprout.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
sprat (plural sprat or sprats)
- Any of various small, herring-like, marine fish in the genus Sprattus, in the family Clupeidae.
- Any of various similar fish of other genera.
- (by extension) Anything petty or insignificant.
- (UK, slang, obsolete) A sixpence.
- 1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:
- The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.
Derived terms edit
- a sprat to catch a mackerel, throw a sprat to catch a mackerel
- European sprat (Sprattus sprattus)
- slender sprat (Spratelloides gracilis)
- spratlike
Related terms edit
Translations edit
any of various small marine fish in the genus Sprattus
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See also edit
References edit
- (sixpence): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary
Anagrams edit
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Noun edit
sprat m (plural sprats)
Further reading edit
- “sprat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Serbo-Croatian edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
sprȁt m (Cyrillic spelling спра̏т)
Declension edit
Declension of sprat
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | sprat | spratovi |
genitive | sprata | spratova |
dative | spratu | spratovima |
accusative | sprat | spratove |
vocative | sprate | spratovi |
locative | spratu | spratovima |
instrumental | spratom | spratovima |
Quotations edit
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:спрат.