Also 4, 6 sproute, 7 sprowt(e, sproot(e. [Related to SPROUT v.1 Cf. MDu. sprute, spruyte (Du. spruit, WFris. sprút), MLG. sprute, spruut, NFris. spröt, spröd.]
1. A shoot from a branch, root or stump of a tree, shrub or plant; a new growth developing from a bud into a branch, stalk, sucker, etc.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter lxxix. 12. He streked his pal[m]tres to þe se, And his sproutes to þe streme to be.
1602. Fulbecke, 2nd Pt. Parall., 53. If certaine sprowtes or braunches doe grow vpon the stocke, the cutting of these sprowtes or braunches or the destroying of them is wast.
1638. Wilkins, New World, xiv. (1707), 126. The Experiment of Trees cut down which will of themselves put forth Sprouts.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., II. Refl. Agric. 63. The New Sprouts which shoot out at the Extremities of a Pruned Branch.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 376. Peach-trees are so difficult to be kept … if the gardener does not perfectly understand the way of cutting them, and taking their sprouts away.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 528. He pinches from the second stalk A pimple, that portends a future sprout.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xvi. (1856), 159. The ferny sprouts of young cocoas.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 76. A large, square yard, growing full of Lombardy poplar sprouts, from the roots of eight or ten old trees.
fig. 1673. O. Walker, Educ., viii. 68. No Nation civil or barbarous … that express not their joy and mirth by it [sc. dancing], which makes it seem a sprout of the Law of Nature.
1871. R. H. Hutton, Ess. (1877), I. 64. All human minds are but sprouts from the same infinite source.
b. A rudimentary shoot of a seed; the acrospire of grain.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., 485. The best barly, of which steeped in water and lying wet therein untill it spurt againe, then, after the said sprout is full come, dried and parched over a kill, they make store of mault.
1673–4. Grew, Anat. Pl., Anat. Trunks, II. i. (1682), 124. A Sprout from a Seed.
fig. 1640. Bp. Hall, Episc., II. 167. So the rest of the Churches show, what sprouts they have of the Apostolike seed.
c. pl. Young or tender shoots or side-growths of various vegetables, esp. of the cabbage-kind.
1639. O. Wood, Alph. Bk. Secrets, 229. The juyce of young Sprowts of Nettles snuffed.
1698. M. Lister, Journ. Paris (1699), 150. I never saw in all the Markets once Sprouts, that is, the tender Roots of Cabages.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 317, ¶ 17. Dined on a Knuckle of Veal and Bacon. Mem. Sprouts wanting.
1721. Bailey, Sprouts, a Sort of young Coleworts.
1726. Dict. Rust., Sprouts, small shoots of old Cabbage, in Winter, when they begin to Bloom and Head.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 649. The roots, more especially those of the Swedish turnip,… will produce an abundance of delicate sprouts through February and March.
1858. Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 99/2. You may now clear away all the stems and remains of cabbages that have supplied you with sprouts.
1887. Amer. Naturalist, XXI. 441. The tall [variety of Brussels sprouts] is quite distinct in habit and lear from the dwarf, the former having less crowded ‘sprouts.’
d. ellipt. for Brussels sprouts (see BRUSSELS).
1858. Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 271. Turnips, Sprouts, Spinach, Sayoys.
e. U.S. A variety of potato.
1868. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 240. Michigan White Sprouts.
2. transf. a. Something resembling a sprout in appearance, formation or growth.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 22/2. An excrescence of fleshe, havinge divers small sproutes.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), V. 611. The tegumental laminæ … sometimes giving rise to sprouts or branches of a very grotesque appearance.
† b. A branch of a river. Obs. (Cf. SPROUT v.1 5.)
1794. Morse, Amer. Geog., 378. To build a bridge over the sprouts of Mohawk river.
3. fig. Applied to persons: A scion.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. When round the ingle-edge young sprouts are rife.
1779. J. Moore, View Soc. Fr., 11. l. 9. This kind of poison, being often poured upon the young sprouts of fortune and quality, gradually blasts the vigour of the plants.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xxxii. The noble Athelstane,… the last sprout of the sainted Confessor! Ibid., xlv. That resuscitated sprout of Saxon royalty.
1875. Tennyson, Q. Mary, I. v. Then the bastard sprout, My sister, is far fairer than myself.
4. To put through a course of sprouts, to beat, birch or flog; to subject to a course of severe discipline or training. U.S.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., ii. 15. See that he be put through a ‘regular course of sprouts.’
1858. in Bartlett (1859), s.v., Any gentlemen who want to be put through the necessary course of preliminary sprouts.
1897. Outing, XXIX. 484/1. He put the ladies [sc. dogs] through a course of sprouts which ultimately developed brilliant … working qualities.
5. The action of sprouting or of putting forth new growths, rare.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 666. Every evill (as Cicero saith) in the first sprout thereof may be easily stopped.
1824. Lamb, Elia, II. Blakesmoor in H—shire. All Ovid on the walls, in colours vivider than his descriptions. Actæon in mid sprout, with the unappeasable prudery of Diana.
6. Special Combs.: † sprout cauliflower, sprouting broccoli (obs.); sprout flow U.S., the first flow or flood of water sluiced into a rice-field, causing the seed to sprout; sprout-hill (see quot.); sprout-land U.S., land covered with the sprouts of trees or shrubs.
1728. Bradley, Dict. Bot., s.v. Brocoli, I call it in English, the Sprout Cauliflower, because the Brocoli … is the Flower stalk with the Flower bud at the End of it.
1766. Museum Rust., VI. 317. In wet weather these insects [sc. ants] accumulate cavernous heaps of sandy particles amongst the grass, called by the labourers, sprout-hills.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 471. This is termed the ‘sprout flow,’ and the water is left on the field until the seed [i.e., rice] sprouts.
1862. Thoreau, Excurs. (1914), 219. About the second of October, these trees [i.e., maples] … are most brilliant, though many are still green. In ‘sprout-lands’ they seem to vie with one another.
