[Related to SPANKING ppl. a. or (in later use) f. SPANK v.2]

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  † 1.  slang. A gold coin; usually in pl., coin, money. Obs.

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1663.  Cowley, Cutter Coleman-St., II. v. Mean time, thou pretty little Smith o’ my good fortune, beat hard upon the Anvil of your Plot, I’l go and provide the Spankers.

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a. 1668.  Denham, Dialogue, Poems (1771), 77. Your cure too costs you but a spanker.

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a. 1680.  Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 269. Tho’ he can produce more Spankers Than all the Usurers and Bankers.

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1708.  Motteux, Rabelais, Pant. Progn., vi. Old Gold, such as your Double Ducats, Rose-Nobles, Angels, Spankers, Spur-Royals.

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1760.  Foote, Minor, II. Wks. 1799, I. 250. Procure you the spankers, my boy. I have a broker, that … shall take off your bargain.

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1785.  in Grose.

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  2.  dial. and colloq. Anything exceptionally large or fine; a person, animal, or thing of superior quality or character.

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1751.  Smollett, Per. Pic., xcv. To turn me adrift in the dark with such a spanker.

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1838.  W. H. Maxwell, Stories Waterloo, I. 208. Miss O’Brien was what Rattigan called a spanker.

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1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xvi. Her passage either way, is almost certain to eventuate a spanker! Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., I. xv. Your new establishment:… it’s to be a spanker.

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1888.  W. Rogers, Mem. West, ii. 32. [We] are soon rewarded by a brace or so of spankers [sc. fish], whose appearance in our basket [etc.].

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  b.  A heavy blow or smack.

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1772.  Bridges, Burlesque Homer, 491 (Farmer). Ajax gave him two such spankers, They smarted worse than nodes and shankers.

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1894.  Meredith, Ld. Ormont, i. Matey’s sure aim … relieving J. Masner of a foremost assailant with a spanker on the nob.

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  3.  Naut. A fore-and-aft sail, set with a gaff and boom at the aftermost part of the ship. Cf. also DRIVER 5 and MIZEN 1.

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1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, 162. The Driver-boom, on which the foot of the driver, or spanker, is extended.

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1804.  Log ‘Victory,’ 15 June, in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VI. 72. Wore and set the mainsail and spanker.

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1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxv. There was no sail now on the ship but the spanker and the close-reefed main topsail.

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1894.  Clark Russell, Good Ship Mohock, I. 55. He … told the officer … to brail up the spanker.

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  attrib.  1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, 217. The Driver or Spanker Sail Is bent as a temporary matter.

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1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxiii. One boy at the spanker-sheet and guy.

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1840.  F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., II. 66. A frigate bird alighted on the spanker-gaff.

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1894.  C. N. Robinson, Brit. Fleet, 251. The last decade of the last century, when the spanker-gall and boom came in.

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  4.  dial. (See quots.)

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1808.  Jamieson, Spanker, one who walks in a quick and elastic way.

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1811.  Willan, in Archaeologia, XVII. 159. Spanker, s. a tall, and active young person.

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a. 1825.  Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Spanker,… a person who takes long steps with agility.

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  5.  dial. and colloq. A horse that travels quickly and smartly; a fast-going horse.

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1814.  Scott, Wav., xxxix. And ye wanted a spanker that would lead the field,… I would serve ye easy.

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1836.  Haliburton, Clockm., I. xix. That are horse goes etarnal fast…. He’s a spanker you may depend.

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1870.  Thornbury, Tour rd. Eng., I. ii. 31. The spankers strike out and away they do go … from Hounslow to Staines.

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  6.  U.S. A light cart suitable for rapid travelling.

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1831.  in A. E. Lee, Hist. Columbus (1892), I. 318. Our vehicle, which in the dialect of the country was called a spanker, was intended for four persons.

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