Sprocket wheel
(Sprock"et wheel`) [Etymology of sprocket is uncertain.] (Mach.) Same as Chain
wheel.
Sprod
(Sprod) n. [Cf. Gael. & Ir. bradan a salmon.] (Zoöl.) A salmon in its second year. [Prov. Eng.]
Sprong
(Sprong) obs. imp. of Spring. Sprung.
Sprout
(Sprout) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sprouted; p. pr. & vb. n. Sprouting.] [OE. sprouten, spruten; akin
to OFries. sprta, AS. spreótan, D. spruiten, G. spriessen, Sw. spruta to squirt, to spout. Cf. Sprit,
v. t. & i., Sprit a spar, Spout, v. t., Spurt.]
1. To shoot, as the seed of a plant; to germinate; to push out new shoots; hence, to grow like shoots of
plants.
2. To shoot into ramifications. [Obs.] Bacon.
Sprout
(Sprout), v. t.
1. To cause to sprout; as, the rain will sprout the seed.
2. To deprive of sprouts; as, to sprout potatoes.
Sprout
(Sprout), n. [Cf. AS. sprote a sprout, sprig; akin to Icel. sproti, G. sprosse. See Sprout, v. i.]
1. The shoot of a plant; a shoot from the seed, from the stump, or from the root or tuber, of a plant or
tree; more rarely, a shoot from the stem of a plant, or the end of a branch.
2. pl. Young coleworts; Brussels sprouts. Johnson.
Brussels sprouts (Bot.) See under Brussels.
Spruce
(Spruce) n. [OE. Spruce or Pruse, Prussia, Prussian. So named because it was first known
as a native of Prussia, or because its sprouts were used for making, spruce beer. Cf. Spruce beer,
below, Spruce, a.]
1. (Bot.) Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea, as the Norway spruce (P. excelsa), and the white
and black spruces of America (P. alba and P. nigra), besides several others in the far Northwest. See
Picea.
2. The wood or timber of the spruce tree.
3. Prussia leather; pruce. [Obs.]
Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather.
E. Phillips. Douglas spruce (Bot.), a valuable timber tree (Pseudotsuga Douglasii) of Northwestern America.
— Essence of spruce, a thick, dark-colored, bitterish, and acidulous liquid made by evaporating a
decoction of the young branches of spruce. — Hemlock spruce (Bot.), a graceful coniferous tree
(Tsuga Canadensis) of North America. Its timber is valuable, and the bark is largely used in tanning
leather. — Spruce beer. [G. sprossenbier; sprosse sprout, shoot (akin to E. sprout, n.) + bier beer.
The word was changed into spruce because the beer came from Prussia or because it was made from
the sprouts of the spruce. See Sprout, n., Beer, and cf. Spruce, n.] A kind of beer which is tinctured
or flavored with spruce, either by means of the extract or by decoction. — Spruce grouse. (Zoöl.)
Same as Spruce partridge, below. - - Spruce leather. See Spruce, n., 3. — Spruce partridge
(Zoöl.), a handsome American grouse (Dendragapus Canadensis) found in Canada and the Northern
United States; — called also Canada grouse.
