sprat
noun
- common name for several kinds of forage fish
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /spɹæt/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English sprotte, from Old English sprot. Older source is unknown. Cognate with German Sprotte, Dutch sprot. Compare sprout.
- Any of various small, herring-like, marine fish in the genus Sprattus, in the family Clupeidae.
- Any of various similar fish of other genera.
- Anything petty or insignificant.
- A sixpence.
“The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English sprotte, from Old English sprot. Older source is unknown. Cognate with German Sprotte, Dutch sprot. Compare sprout.
- To manure (land) with sprats (the fish).
“[…] spratting the land. This treatment is supplemented by about half a ton of artificial manure, largely made up of a mixture of superphosphate and some nitrogenous manure.”