sprite

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Water-sprite, as she called her flower, till the white sails were all set, and it was ready for a summer voyage.

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Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun A small or elusive supernatural being; an elf or pixie.
  2. noun An elflike person.
  3. noun A specter or ghost.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • He remembered the pixie archer, for the sprite was suddenly there again, right before him, this time joined by scores of its little friends. —  The Woods Out Back
  • These objects behave like 'children' of the sprite, so when the sprite is moved, the objects inside the sprite move too. —  Recently Uploaded Slideshows
  • The fire and frost they thought were alive, pleased to make sport with men As people who ought to know better," observed M. Kollsen, "now think the wind is alive, and call it Nipen, or the mist of the lake and river, which they call the sprite Uldra It is true," said the bishop, "that we now have better knowledge, and see that the earth, and all that is in it, is made and moved by One Good Spirit, who, instead of sporting with men, or being angry with them, rules all things for their good. —  Feats on the Fiord The third book in "The Playfellow"
  • 'I am not sure but that she is a water-sprite, after all,' grumbled Waring, as he followed her. —  Castle Nowhere
  • You would have taken her for a water-sprite, except that no water-sprite was half so beautiful You speak in raptures, cardinal," cried Henry. —  Windsor Castle
 

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This word has been looked up 110 times.

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Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English spreit, from Old French esprit, from Latin spīritus; see spirit.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Early modern English also spright (erroneously conformed to the spelling of light, night, etc.); from Middle English sprite, spryte, sprit, spreit, from Old French esprit, espirit, French esprit = Spanish espíritu = Portuguese espirito = Italian spirito, spirto, spirit, from Latin spiritus, spirit: see spirit. Doublet of spirit.
  2. from sprite, n.
  3. Also spright; a variant form of sprit.
  4. A corruption of spite, properly *spight, a variant of speight: see speight.
 

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/spraɪt/
by American Heritage

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