English edit

 
a European sprat (Sprattus sprattus)
 
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Etymology edit

From Middle English sprotte, from Old English sprot. Older source is unknown. Cognate with German Sprotte, Dutch sprot. Compare sprout.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /spɹæt/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -æt

Noun edit

sprat (plural sprat or sprats)

  1. Any of various small, herring-like, marine fish in the genus Sprattus, in the family Clupeidae.
  2. Any of various similar fish of other genera.
  3. (by extension) Anything petty or insignificant.
  4. (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

Related terms edit

Translations edit

See also edit

References edit

  • (sixpence): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams edit

French edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

sprat m (plural sprats)

  1. sprat

Further reading edit

Serbo-Croatian edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

sprȁt m (Cyrillic spelling спра̏т)

  1. floor, story/storey (level)

Declension edit

Quotations edit