spright en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /spɹaɪt/
Etymology
Unetymological spelling of sprite. Doublet of spirit, spiritus, spirytus, sprite, and esprit.
Meanings
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(obsolete) Spirit; mind; soul; state of mind; mood.
Who comming to that ſowle-diſeaſed knight, / Could hardly him intreat, to tell his grief: / Which knowne, and all that noyd his heauie ſpright, / Well ſearcht, eftſoones he gan apply relief.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 24, page 141:Well may I ween, your grief is wondrous great; / For wondrous great griefe groneth in my ſpright, / Whiles thus I heare you of your ſorrowes treat.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 40, page 100:
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(obsolete) A supernatural being; a spirit; a shade; an apparition; a ghost.
And forth he cald out of deepe darknes dredd / Legions of Sprights, the which like litle flyes / Fluttring about his euerdamned hedd, [...]
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 38, page 13:To thee, O Father, Sonne, and ſacred Spright. / One true, eternall, euerlaſting king, / To Chriſtes deere mother Marie virgin bright, / Pſalmes of thankeſgiuing and of praiſe they ſing, [...]
1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Eleuenth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 7, page 196:
- (obsolete) A kind of short arrow.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| sprights | Number=Plur | lexicographic |