spruit
nounEtymology From Afrikaans spruit. Doublet of sprout.
1
South Africa A small headstream; a stream flowing through a village, dry in summer.
- Though there is such a poor prospect for public irrigation schemes, the country seems, on the whole, fairly well watered in years of normal rainfall, and there are many springs and "spruits," or rivulets, more or less permanent.1901 October 11, Colonel F. V. Corbett, “Report on Irrigation in Natal”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 16, page 489:
- Pursuing my quest in the heat of a broiling sun, I reached a gigantic tree standing on the bank of a running rivulet, its branches over-hanging the flooded spruit.1930, Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, “Rays of Sunshine”, in Mhudi, page 30: