sprunt

present singular third person sprunts · participle present sprunting · participle past sprunted · past sprunted · alternative splunt

1. obsoleteregionalTo make quick or convulsive movements; to start, to jump.First known use 17th–20th c.

   They acted a Tragedy at Padua when I was there last June 1786 I think: the Actors struggled & bounced, and sprunted as if in Convulsions […].

   1786 August 16, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Thraliana

2. ScotlandarchaicintransitiveTo court, flirt, or make romantic advances; esp. after dusk and under the cover of darkness, sometimes among haystacks.First known use 19th c.

   Sprunt, to run among the stacks after the girls at night.

   1825, Jamieson, J., Etymological Dictionary of Scottish Language Suppl.

   3 more examples

   To a laft amang some hay; Like others i' the splunting way.

   1823, Kennedy, James, Poems and Songs

   A great ploy for the young swankies tae rin a' athort the country at nicht spluntin.

   1901, Trotter, R. De B., Galloway Gossip

   I’m too forswunke after sprunting all night, I’m getting too old for such mollynogging shenanigans!

   2016 July 31, Grandiloquent Word of the Day

   1. ScotlandarchaicintransitiveTo seek to gain the affections of a person.

plural sprunts · alternative splunt

1. obsoleteA sudden movement; a leap or jump.First known use 17th–19th c.
2. obsoleteSomething bouncy or perky.First known use 18th c.
3. A steep road, hill, or incline.

   “Lang slaunting sprunts,” tall sloping hills or “land-spurs”

   1788, Marshall, Rural Economy of Yorkshire, page 695

comparative more sprunt · superlative most sprunt · alternative splunt

1. obsoleteActive; lively; vigorous.First known use 17th–19th c.

   As for that little sprunt piece of the Brain which they call the Conarion...

   1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book I, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 35

2. Steep or sharp in ascent.

   Ya’ll mannish ti trunn’l yersen t’best hauf o’ t’way, bud efter that ya’ll finnd it a bit sprunt [said to a cyclist]. (You’ll manage to trundle yourself for the better half of the way, but after that, you’ll find it a bit sprunt.)

   1896, Wright, Joseph, The English Dialect Dictionary: R-S, page 695