Etymology Apparently a variation of sprent or sprint. This term originated as a Victorian-era Scots word in the Roxburgh region.
1
Obsolete, Regional To make quick or convulsive movements; to start, to jump.
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
Scotland, Archaic To court, flirt, or make romantic advances; esp. after dusk and under the cover of darkness, sometimes among haystacks.
To a laft amang some hay; Like others i' the splunting way.1823, Kennedy, James, Poems and Songs:
Sprunt, to run among the stacks after the girls at night.1825, Jamieson, J., Etymological Dictionary of Scottish Language Suppl.:
2 more examples
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:
3
Scotland, Archaic To seek to gain the affections of a person.
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: