sprig

English

Etymology

From Middle English sprig, sprigge, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Middle Low German sprik, spricke (“a dry, easily broken twig that has fallen from a tree; sprig”). Compare also dialectal English sprag (“sprig, twig”), Old English spræc (“a shoot”), German Low German Spricke, Sprick (“dry branch, twig”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɹɪɡ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪɡ

Noun

sprig (plural sprigs)

1. A small shoot or twig of a tree or other plant; a spray.

   a sprig of laurel or of parsley

   • 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:

     […] from this bush in the dooryard, / With delicate-color’d blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green, / A sprig with its flower I break.

2. An ornament resembling a small shoot or twig.
3. One of the separate pieces of lace fastened on a ground in applique lace.
4. (humorous, sometimes mildly derogatory) A youth; a lad.
   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, ; and Archibald Constable and Co., , →OCLC:

     a sprig whom I remember, with a whey-face and a satchel, not so many years ago

5. A brad, or nail without a head.
6. A small eyebolt ragged or barbed at the point.
7. A house sparrow.

Translations

Verb

sprig (third-person singular simple present sprigs, present participle sprigging, simple past and past participle sprigged)

1. To decorate with sprigs, or with representations of sprigs, as in embroidery or pottery.
2. To nail the sole onto a shoe.

Derived terms

• sprigger

Anagrams

• PIRGs, grips, prigs