sprinkling, n. scattering, sprinkle, dribble, driblet, trickle, drop, droplet; few, modicum, smattering, handful, fistful; dash, pinch, tinge, scantling, touch, bit; trace, suspicion, soupcon.
sprite, n. fairy, fay, pixy, peri, sylph, nymph, dryad; nix, nixie, kelpie; goblin, gremlin, brownie; imp, demon; Puck, Oberon, Mab, Titania, Tinker Bell; elf, leprechaun, troll, gnome, kobold; (pi.) wee folk, little folk, little people,
sprout, v. 1. burgeon, bud, begin to grow, come up, germinate, pullulate, put forth, shoot out or up; bloom, blossom, flower, open, bear fruit, fructify; flourish, luxuriate.
2. grow, develop, proliferate, wax, multiply; accelerate, quicken, snowball, mushroom; increase, escalate, expand, spread.
-n. 3. new growth, bud, burgeon, shoot, sprig; stem, twig, small branch; offshoot, Bot. runner, Bot. stolon, Bot. sucker; scion, cutting, slip, Hort. graft,
spruce, adj. 1. trim, neat, dapper, looking as if one just stepped out of a bandbox, smart, natty, chic, Inf. slick, Sl. spiffy, sleek; tidy, orderly, well-ordered, in good order, shipshape, Chiefly Dial, tight, Chiefly Brit. trig, Inf. neat as a pin, regular, in place, spick-and-span. -v. 2. Usu.
spruce up neaten, tidy, tidy up, straighten up or out, pick up, clean, clean up; groom, trim, put in trim, Brit. Dial, trig up or out; arrange, order, put in order; primp, prink, trick up or out, deck out, Inf do up, Inf. fig out.
spry, adj. active, energetic, energetical, vibrant, full of verve; vital, lively, full of life, Inf. snappy, Inf. full of pep, Inf. peppy, Inf. full of get up and go, Chiefly U.S. Inf. chipper; vivacious, sprightly, sprightful, jumping, hopping, swinging, animated, spirited, Sl. go-go; vigorous, hearty, brisk; nimble, agile, lithe, light and quick; light-footed, nimble-footed; playful, sportive, frisky, gamesome, frolicsome,
spume, v. 1. Often
spume forth eject, discharge, emit, send forth; gush, issue, spout, spurt.
2. foam, froth, cream, lather, soap; boil over, bubble, fizzle, effervesce.
-n. 3. foam, head, froth, lather, suds; spray, mist, spindrift, spoondrift, surf; fizz, fizzle, effervescence, sparkle.
spunk, n. 1. Informal, pluck, mettle, mettlesomeness, spirit, pluckiness, gameness, nerve, chutzpah, backbone, gumption, heart, blood, marrow, Archaic. pith, stamina, Inf toughness, grit, true grit, Inf. starch, U.S. Inf. sand, Inf. spunkiness, Sl. guts, Sl. gutsiness, Sl. moxie; high-spiritedness, daring, derring-do, bravado, elan, dash, panache.
2. tinder, touchwood, punk, amadou,
spur, n. 1. rowel, goad, prick, point, prod.
2. stimulus, stimulant, incentive, fillip, provocative, motive; jolt, jog, poke, lash, whip; incitement, inducement, instigation, encouragement, abetment, provocation, egging on, putting up to; dare, taunt, gibe.
3. Ornithology, horny process, horn, promontory, knob, gnarl, knot.
4. spike, prong, tooth, gaff, spit, cusp, tip; tine, spine, quill, barb, barbule, barblet, prickle, nib, neb, spicule.
5. shoot, scion, spear, stem, twig, branch, stunted branch, ramification; snag, projection, burgeon, bud, sprout.
6. on the spur of the moment impulsively, impetuously, precipitately, without thinking, unthinkingly, thoughtlessly, recklessly, rashly, brashly, incautiously, headlong, pell-mell, helter-skelter; suddenly, all of a sudden, abruptly, unexpectedly, out of the blue, without warning, all at once, slap, Inf. slap-