sprack

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See also: spräck

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English sprak, from Old Norse sparkr, sprekr (lively) and/or Old Norse sprækr (lively), from Proto-Germanic *sparkaz, *sprēkijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sp(h)er(a)g- (to strew, sprinkle). More at spark.

Adjective

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sprack (comparative more sprack, superlative most sprack)

  1. (UK, dialectal) lively, full of energy
    • 1864, Jean Ingelow, chapter 1, in Studies for Stories: Emily's Ambition:
      She was apprenticed as a 'pupil teacher,' at fourteen years of age, and deemed to have a more than ordinary chance of doing well and getting on, for she was clever, and what is called 'sprack' in the part of the country where she lived.
    • 1916, J. H. Morgan, Leaves from a Field Note-Book[1]:
      "Yes, that I be, and I 'ave a little boy, he be a sprack little chap."

Swedish

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Verb

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sprack

  1. past indicative of spricka