Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Informal Precisely; squarely: fell spang into the middle of the puddle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A shining ornament or object; a spangle.
- To set with bright points: star or spangle.
- To leap; spring.
- To cause to spring; set forcibly in motion; throw with violence.
- n. A spring; a leaping or springing up; a violent blow or movement.
- To hitch; fasten.
- n. A span.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete A shiny ornament or object; a spangle
- v. To set with bright points: star or spangle.
- v. To hitch; fasten.
- v. intransitive, of a flying object such as a bullet To strike or ricochet with a loud report
- adv. dated Suddenly; slap, smack.
- v. intransitive, dialect, UK, Scotland To leap; spring.
- v. transitive, dialect, UK, Scotland To cause to spring; set forcibly in motion; throw with violence.
- n. Scotland A span.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. obsolete To spangle.
- v. Scot. To spring; to bound; to leap.
- n. Scot. A bound or spring.
- n. obsolete A spangle or shining ornament.
WordNet 3.0
- v. leap, jerk, bang
Etymologies
- See span (Wiktionary)
- Probably from dialectal spang, to leap, jerk, bang, probably of imitative origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Englishman will mak a spang at it --- But I wash my hands o't”
“The boy's ears were assailed by the sharp "spang" and "crack" of long-barreled antiaircraft guns and the "whomp" and the”
“This time, as twice before, the broad round boom of a smooth-bore, so different from the short sharp "spang" of a rifle.”
“Englishman will mak a spang at it — But I wash my hands o’t — Follow me sir” (to Andrew), “and I’se show ye where to pit the beasts.””
“Set roasted beef and pudding on the opposite side o 'the pit o' Tophet, and an Englishman will mak a spang at it -- But I wash my hands o't -- Follow me sir "(to Andrew)," and I'se show ye where to pit the beasts. ”
“One could almost judge the strength of the opposing forces as the Jerries were using mostly spandaus, the peculiar spang of which is unmistakable.”
“Except during yogic nonconceptual cognition of nondenumerable voidness when the process of ridding ourselves forever (spang-ba, abandoning) unawareness begins, unawareness (ma-rig-pa, ignorance) accompanies all moments of conceptual and nonconceptual cognition.”
“And spang it: half the people go, what's he talking about?”
“The spiteful spang of atomite sent Bert and Daniels to the window.”
“Given how much of Paris looks like the Belle Epoque, having something that looks like a pile of HVAC spang in the middle of it is just an insult to everyone concerned.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spang’.
-
Mike Doughty/Soul Coughing
Words and phrases from his lyrics.
incumbent, jawgrind, boop shuh-nai, mopstyle, boombox moocher, Buddha-plump van, slingbacked, half-moon, maquereau, aphasia, barter yardie, boom-bap and 30 more...
-
Origin Unknown
Words listed as "origin unknown."
spang, nincompoop, lollapalooza, jive, mosey, mull, lush, dog, swizzle, swizzle stick, wonk, hootchy-kootchy and 5 more...
-
Verecund, flivver, etc
Just some words I happen to enjoy. Some thread-worn, some not.
yegg, yob, verecund, amatory, fermata, threepenny, gruntled, flivver, gamboge, decolletage, ordure, nudnik and 173 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
-
Real words that I love
Words that make me happy in my pants AND have a place in the dictionary.
enervate, efficacious, basilisk, minotaur, elfin, elephantine, schadenfreude, enigma, emasculate, acidic, appalling, ridiculous and 102 more...
-
Twitchy
The (not always so) smoovements; scattered, oscillating, jerky, and unpredictable.
palpitation, scravel, jactitate, pounce, wobble, vibrate, undulate, didder, effleurage, flail, ague, swerve and 169 more...
-
Sound or sequence
dulcimer, borborygmi, ecchymosis, scrivener, fustilugs, zarf, bawdyhouse, googleable, archfiend, gymkhana, cuckoopint, pilpul and 104 more...
-
discoveries
These are lexical items new to me that I've discovered in actual use (i.e. not in dictionaries, lists, or this site).
Looking back over this list, I haven't the slightest idea what mos...haymow, hawsepipe, stridor, bariatric, autotelic, apotropaic, cyanotype, tourelle, autobody, zudecca, stifado, corbeille and 1073 more...
-
Adverbia
A long list of adverbs, beginning with full-drive. Someone had to list them. This list in continued in the list More Adverbia.
Read some sniping and some informative commentary about a...full-drive, portentously, unlawfully, legally, heterogeneously, consumingly, clancularly, inconsolably, prepositionally, retrogressively, symptomatically, decrepitly and 2460 more...
-
5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
-
Some Words
jabot, knell, volant, crasis, confute, toxophilite, bursar, glyptic, indifferentism, spang, carrel, liberticide and 65 more...
-
Dangles Jackson, Words for Learning
DJ Dangles Jackson, Occupy Your Brain
Tweets
Looking for tweets for spang.
mollusque Completely, squarely. Jun 26, 2008