sprit

plural sprits

1. nauticalA spar between mast and upper outer corner of a spritsail on sailing boats.

   ... and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits.

   1899, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Heart of Darkness

2. A shoot; a sprout.

   the Maltſter will ſtir his Barley Couches till the Sprit begins to fork , five or ſix times a day or more ; it being always his Care to keep them from drying too much on the outſides

   1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC

present singular third person sprits · participle present spritting · participle past spritted · past spritted

1. To sprout; to bud; to germinate, as barley steeped for malt.
2. To throw out with force from a narrow orifice; to eject; to spurt out.