sprat meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

sprat

noun

/spɹæt/

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

Any of various small, herring-like, marine fish in the genus Sprattus, in the family Clupeidae.

Any of various similar fish of other genera.

Broadly Anything petty or insignificant.

UK, Obsolete, Slang A sixpence.

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.1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:

Derived terms: a sprat to catch a mackerel, throw a sprat to catch a mackerel, European sprat, slender sprat, spratlike, spratter
Related terms: spratting, pilchard, sardine

verb

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

Historical To manure (land) with sprats (the fish).

[…] spratting the land. This treatment is supplemented by about half a ton of artificial manure, largely made up of a mixture of superphosphate and some nitrogenous manure.1923, The Agricultural Gazette and Modern Farming, volume 98, page 190: