Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, Australia To promote a thing or idea to another person.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown, likely Germanic – compare Dutch spraak ("speech").

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Examples

  • However, I will happily spruik the event to those on my flist in the vicinity?

    Event Interest Gauge. karenhealey 2010

  • I, on the other hand, am quite happy to spruik a new diet fad, (and was probably doing so) … basically cos it worked well for me.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » Well that was AWSM! 2010

  • I get emails from film people wanting me to spruik their product, but if they spell my name wrong I tend to send it straight into the trash bin.

    Glenn with a Double N Glenn Dunks 2010

  • BigPond Movies has just released some research it commissioned to spruik its DVD-rental-by-mail service.

    Why Would You Use A DVD Rental Service? | Lifehacker Australia 2008

  • I get emails from film people wanting me to spruik their product, but if they spell my name wrong I tend to send it straight into the trash bin.

    Archive 2010-06-01 Glenn Dunks 2010

  • Barely two weeks after Judd Apatow's latest directorial job, Funny People, flopped at the American box office, Apatow himself has flown into down to spruik his product to a nation of people studios think won't know any better.

    Archive 2009-08-01 Glenn Dunks 2009

  • Klein, a corporate lawyer and political apparatchik, is here to spruik the virtues of Gillard's wacky plan to publish a rating system for schools.

    Aussies to Klein: Political Apparatchik, Go Home Jim Horn 2008

  • Klein, a corporate lawyer and political apparatchik, is here to spruik the virtues of Gillard's wacky plan to publish a rating system for schools.

    Archive 2008-11-01 Jim Horn 2008

  • BigPond Movies has just released some research it commissioned to spruik its DVD-rental-by-mail service.

    Why Would You Use A DVD Rental Service? | Lifehacker Australia 2008

  • I like these people ... once again: Ambrosini Professional Placements * spruik spruik*

    March 15th, 2006 mynxii 2006

Comments

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  • Mr Gabriel said the meeting last week inspired him to go to Silicon Valley next month to spruik his technology.

    - http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/technology/better-than-google-creator-thinks-so/2007/05/28/1180205209239.html?page=2

    May 30, 2007

  • Australian slang. Said especially of showmen, salesmen, etc: to speak in public, especially at length and using ornate language.

    November 9, 2007

  • Pronounced "sproo-eek"? Sproyk? Sprike?

    November 9, 2007

  • Don't know, yarb. I just saw it in print in an article from TechCrunch. None of the sources I can find give a pronunciation. My guess would be "SPROO king."

    November 9, 2007

  • I've decided I don't like this word.

    November 9, 2007

  • Just a couple of weeks before pulling the pin, BHP chief commercial officer Alberto Calderon was spruiking the offer to a London mining conference.

    - Miningnewspemium.net, 12-2-08

    December 3, 2008

  • Yes, it's spruik to rhyme with juke. I have had the entertaining discovery today that this is an Australian word of uncertain origin.

    The Australian Macquarie Dictionary offers:

    /spruk/ (say sproohk) Colloquial

    --verb (i)

    1. to harangue or address a meeting: to spruik the benefits of a unionised workforce.

    2. to harangue prospective customers to entice them into a show, strip joint, shop, etc.: *In Chinatown they are now subtly spruiking for custom. --herald, 1990.

    --verb (t)

    3. to promote; argue publicly for: to spruik the new legislation. origin uncertain

    --spruiker, noun

    The New Shorter Oxford adds NZ to the mix, dates it as early 20th century, has no further clues about origins and says: "Esp. of a showman; hold forth, speak in public." With the spruiker, therefore, "a speaker employed to attract custom to a sideshow, a barker; a public speaker."

    The spelling makes me wonder whether there's some Dutch or South African in there. Certainly there's a family resemblance to spreken, sprechen and that general family of words.

    April 25, 2009

  • And it would seem I'm not alone in being unaware of its being a particularly Australian usage.

    April 25, 2009