Obs. exc. dial. [Cf. Norw. and Sw. spruta, Da. sprude, in sense 1, related to LG. sprutten, sprütte (hence Da. sprutte), MHG. and G. sprützen, and perh. identical in stem with prec.]
1. trans. To send forth in a spout or gush; to spout or pour out; to squirt.
1592. R. D., Hypnerotomachia, 34. Her [the statue’s] smal teates … did sprowt out smal streamings of pure … water.
1646. J. Hall, Poems, I. 65. What dost thou thinke I can retaine All this and sprout it out againe? As a surcharged Whale doth spew Old Rivers to receive in new.
1886–. in Lanc. and Yks. dialect use.
2. intr. To issue in a spout or gush. Also transf. of the sun: To pour down rays.
1611. Cotgr., Iallir, to spurt out, sprowt vp,… as water forced out of a spout.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, VI. 242. The wether-beaten paunch she cast Out of the corpes, and then at last She lets the sunne thereon to sprout.
1624. Wotton, Arch., 112. By the turning of a cocke, they [i.e., pipes] did sprout ouer interchangeably from side to side.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 181. Who had such abundance of milk in hir breasts, as was not only sufficient to suckle a Child, but it moreover sprouted out exuberantly.
