sparkful en · ADJ
Etymology
From spark + -ful.
Meanings
-
(uncommon) Lively, vivacious; smart.
Rachel was vivacious and sparkful. As her type is wont to do, she married a painfully jealous man, one Lewis Robards.
1998, The American Enterprise, volume 9, page 78:[…] he is quite well drawn, and of a piece with more than one sparkful young ‘hero’ of Shakespeare’s invention—with Bassanio, for instance, or the earlier Romeo.
1929, Arthur Quiller-Couch, “Introduction”, in William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, page xxvii:Hitherto will our sparkefull Youth laugh at their great grandfathers English, who had more care to do well, than to speake minion-like, and left more glory to vs by their exploiting of great actes, than we shall do by our sonnetting.
1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 18:It described the first ceiling I mentioned as “Apollo drawn by four sparkful steeds in a shining cart, the egregious Domenichino’s work.”
1827 February 5, Walter Augustus Shirley, “[Letter to his parents]”, in Thomas Hill, editor, Letters and Memoir of the Late Walter Augustus Shirley […], published 1849, page 95:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most sparkful | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more sparkful | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |