sprat

POS

Noun

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WORDNET DICTIONARY

Noun sprat has 2 senses

sprat(n = noun.food) brisling - small fatty European fish; usually smoked or canned like sardines; Array

is a part of brisling, clupea sprattus, sprat

is a kind of herring

sprat(n = noun.animal) brisling, clupea sprattus - small herring processed like a sardine; Array

is a member of clupea, genus clupea

is a kind of sardine

has parts: brisling, sprat

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CIDE DICTIONARY

sprat, n. [OE. sprot, sprotte, D. sprot; akin to G. sprotte.].

A small European herring (Clupea sprattus) closely allied to the common herring and the pilchard; -- called also garvie. The name is also applied to small herring of different kinds. [1913 Webster]

Sprat borer (Zoöl.), the red-throated diver; -- so called from its fondness for sprats. See Diver. -- Sprat loon. (Zoöl.) (a) The young of the great northern diver. [Prov. Eng.] (b) The red-throated diver. See Diver. -- Sprat mew (Zoöl.), the kittiwake gull.

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

sprat, n. & v.
--n.
1 a small European herring-like fish, Sprattus sprattus, much used as food.
2 a similar fish, e.g. a sand eel or a young herring.
--v.intr. (spratted, spratting) fish for sprats.

Idiom

a sprat to catch a mackerel a small risk to gain much.

Derivative

spratter n. spratting n.

Etymology

OE sprot

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