Talk:spang

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Etymology[edit]

Is this ever used in the original meaning of clasp? 72.160.179.120 06:08, 24 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]




Spangit (spang), n. [( ME. spang,( AS. spa?ge,

also ge-spong, a clasp, brooch, = MD. sTange,

D. spa,g = MLG. spa,ge = OHG. spa,gd, MHG.

G. spa,ge, a clasp, brooch, buckle, ornament, =

Icel. sp6?g, a clasp, stud, spangle, etc.; root ob-

scure. The Gael. spa,g, a spangle, is prob. ( E.

Hence spa,gle.]


A shining ornament or object; a spangle.

  • Our plumes, our sparigs, and al our queint aray ! Gascoigne, Steele Glas, p. 377.
  • All set with spangs of glitt'ring stars untold. Bacon, Paraphrase of Psalm civ.
  • Glistering copper sparigs, / That glisten in the tyer of the Court. Marston, Antonio and Mellida, I., iii. 1.


spangit (spang), v.t. [< spa?g 1, n.]


To set with bright points: star or spangle.

  • Upon his head he wore a hunter's hat / Of crimson velvet, spangd with stares of gold. Battlefield, Cassandra (1595). (Nares.)


spang2 (spang), v. [A var. or collateral form

of spank1, move quickly, perhaps due to asso-

ciation with spring (pret. spra?g).]


I. intrans.

To leap; spring. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]

  • An I could but hae gotten some decent claes on, I wad hae spa?ged out o' bed. Scott, Old Mortality, vii.


II. trans. To cause to spring; set forcibly in motion; throw with violence. [Prey. Eng.

and Scotch.]

  • She came up to the table with a fantastic spring, and spa?ged down the sparkling mass on it. C. Reade, Never too Late to Mend, lxv. (Davies.)


spang2 (spang), ?. [< spa,g2, v.] A spring; a leaping or springing up; a violent blow or movement. [Prey. Eng. and Scotch.]

  • Set roasted beef and pudding on the opposite side o' the pit o' Topher, and an Englishman will make a spans at it. Scott, Rob Roy, xxviii.
  • He went swinging by the rope back to the main stem of the tree, gave it a fierce spans with his feet, and... got an inch nearer the window. C. Reade, Hard Cash, xliii.