Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Lively, active, and brisk; vigorous.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Active, as in leaping or running; nimble; vigorous; lively.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. U.S. & Local Eng. Having great power of leaping or running; nimble; active.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. moving quickly and lightly
Etymologies
- From British dialectal sprey, from Old Norse sprækr ("nimble, lively") from Proto-Germanic *sprēkiz (“lively”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pereg- (“to strew, jerk, sprinkle, scatter”). Cognate with Icelandic sprækur ("lively, spry"), Swedish dialectal sprygg ("brisk, very active, skittish"). More at spark. Related to sprack, sprig, sprug, freckle. (Wiktionary)
- Perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish dialectal sprygg, brisk. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I say, mam, ef you comes so late you can't have no vittles, – 'cause I'm 'bleeged fer ter git things ready fer de doctors' mazin 'spry arter you nusses and folks is done.”
“Dan Hart, the man in charge of the group, is described as a spry”
“Oh lord, Lance, is this the cut off for geezer? am I going to have to start calling myself "spry" now?”
“Oh lord – next he's going to start bragging about how "spry" he is”
“If Senator McCain is so sensitive about his age then why are he and his surrogates constantly telling us how "spry" and "energetic" he is.”
“Also ... why is it you only hear really really old people described as "spry"?”
“I've been called "spry," because I've been willing to wage budget fights and otherwise shake up politics as usual in my state's capital city.”
“For though this veteran more than doubled the years of the boy ranchers, he was almost as "spry" as any of them.”
The Boy Ranchers at Spur Creek or Fighting the Sheep Herders
“Oh, my back, and oh, my bones!" murmured Aunt Alvirah Boggs, who was not long out of a sick bed herself and would never again be as "spry" as she once had been.”
“The latter, at a wooding station, thinking that the man was not sufficiently "spry," administered a palthogue, which not meeting the approbation of the Mejicano, that worthy immediately drew his knife and challenged the aggressor.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spry’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Fairylike
fairylike, enchanted, pixieish, pixyish, impish, mischievous, fluttery, magical, bewitching, enchanting, fey, otherworldly and 126 more...
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Places In Utah
tooele, rainbow bridge, duchene, bountiful, american fork, deseret, this is the place, temple square, orem, provo, west jordan, great salt lake and 246 more...
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jaydrox's list
Mah list!
mediocracy, captivatingly, devastatingly, dazedly, heavenly, flawless, copious, conviction, synoptic, amalgamation, prefatory, precursory and 150 more...
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Primero
random
persnickety, hypoxia, peripatetic, love, anoxia, ginko, inigma, gentle, nourished, deem, earthquake, feather and 20 more...
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Energetic
braze, raze, brisance, brisant, rive, catalyze, whipsaw, crack, actinic, sublimate, animate, vitalize and 88 more...
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Neww
specious, disdainfully, vehemently, in lieu of, dismissive, perpetual, preposterous, impasse, fathom, conversely, repugnant, clogged and 142 more...
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Mr. Prolagus is surprised
Words - or different usages of words I already knew - that I am learning thanks to Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.
See also ofravens' with thanks to Anne Shirley.alder, decorum, ferret, dint, wont, gauntlet, turnip, sorrel, deft, embower, scant, peck and 92 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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Really Cool Four-Letter Words
I marvel at the amazing variety of four-letter words in the English language. And that's not even counting really common (to me) words like fuck.
ibis, pelf, sofa, iota, oboe, lava, icon, sped, puha, pulp, puma, kyat and 150 more...
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(more or less) Temporary Urth List
Temporary list is temporary.
Collecting a few words here, which are then to be alloted to other lists.vassal, gnaw, putrescence, liege, pederasty, disseminate, loot, waning, fitful, hiatuse, plow, pious and 292 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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Life is just a four-letter word
Everyone's got their favorites. Here are some of mine.
snit, hobo, minx, kiln, loll, pelf, yegg, ugly, bumf, brio, biro, haha and 92 more...
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eesome
Includes any intangible conceivable independently of Hom. Sap.
depthless, overspire, unsteady, thitherward, rile, munchable, covet, pastinaceous, mirtle, slonk, tink, inerrarable and 345 more...
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old faves
ones I already liked
vacuole, organelle, debauchle, voluptuous, spry, cattywampus, obscure, occlude, occult, celtic, voracious, ardently and 133 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for spry.
bilby Ha, good point kewpid. Jun 16, 2008
kewpid Useful for implying that someone is old without actually saying it. Jun 15, 2008