sprig

plural sprigs

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

   a sprig of laurel or of parsley

   2 more examples

   […] 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.

   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

   “Why, one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard.[…]"

   1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC

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. derogatoryhumorousmildlysometimesA youth; a lad.

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

   1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

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

present singular third person sprigs · participle present sprigging · participle past sprigged · past sprigged

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