Obs. Also 5–6 sperte. [OE. sperte, spirte, spyrte, ad. L. sporta basket.]
1. A basket used for holding articles or for catching fish.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xv. 37. Þara ʓebroca [hie] ʓenomen siofun sperta fulle.
a. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 402. Spyrte bið … of rixum ʓebroden, oððe of palm-twyʓum.
c. 1000. Colloq. Ælfric, in Wr.-Wülcker, 93. Hu ʓefehst þu fixas?… Ic wyrpe … spyrtan and swa hwæt swa hiʓ ʓehæftað ic ʓenime.
1406. in Essex Rev. (1904), April 74–5. [Putting] spertes [and other fish-catching devices into the lord’s river].
2. A species of willow or osier.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 744. That which hath reddish barke, is called … in English Red Withy, and the better sort thereof is called Red Sperte. Ibid. The small lowe Withy is called … the Sperte or twigge Withy.
1611. Cotgr., Siler, the hearbe … Hartwort; some also call Spert, or the Osier Withie, so.
