[f. SPRIT v.1 Cf. SPIRT sb.3 and SPURT sb.2] a. A young shoot of a plant or tree. b. A sprout of a seed or root.
1622. Jrnl. Eng. Plantation Plymouth New England, 7. As we wandred we came to a tree, where a yong Spritt was bowed downe over a bow, and some Acornes strewed vnder neath.
1682. Houghton’s Lett. Husb. & Trade, I. 67. Sometimes … I have known our Maltster stir his Barly-Couches … till the Sprit begins to fork, five or six times a day. Ibid., 68. When the Sprits come forth at the Root end of the Corn, another Sprit, which we call the Acrospire, begins to stir at the same end.
1851. Sternberg, Northampt. Dial., Sprit, a sprout; the awn of barley.
1886. Holland, Cheshire Gloss., 334. Sprit, a sprout from the eye of a potato, or the young radicle of corn when it first begins to grow.
