Obs. exc. dial. [Of obscure origin.] trans. To scrape or pick with some instrument; to dig up in this way.
1575. Banister, Chyrurg., I. (1585), 254. Then with a brasse or yron pipe … thrust into the bottome of it, [they] do sprittle it up by the roots.
1904. in Eng. Dial. Dict. (Notts., Linc.).
