| 释义 |
▪ I. spry, n. Kentish dial.
[Special use of spry spray n.1]
A flat broom made of birch twigs.
1796Boys Agric. Surv. Kent 84 Wheat..is universally in Kent, cleaned with a casting-shovel, and flat broom, called a spry.
▪ II. spry, a. and adv.|spraɪ|
Also dial. 8 sprey, 9 sprae, Sc. spree.
[Of obscure origin. Current in English dialects, but more familiar as an Americanism.]
1. Active, nimble, smart, brisk; full of health and spirits.
Eng. and Sc. dial. instances are given under (a) and (c).
(a)1746Exmoor Courtship (E.D.S.) 579 A comely sprey vitty Vella vor enny keendest Theng. Ibid. 581 Thare's net a spreyer Vella in Challacomb. 1825Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng. 72 Spry, nimble, active. 1844W. Barnes Poems 48 Jump'd to zee who wer the spryest. 1866Gilbert Rugge I. ii. 31 She's one o' them sort who's down one day and up and spry the next. 1870Verney Lettice Lisle xx, He's so lusty and so spry he may give 'em all the slip.
(b)1789Maryland Jrnl. 10 Mar. (Thornton), [The snakes] were not so spry as in summer season, so none escaped being killed. 1815Massachusetts Spy 28 June (Thornton), Pray be spry, sir, said I, for there's no knowing what my wife may do. 1833[Seba Smith] Lett. J. Downing ii. (1835) 30 ‘And now,’ says I, ‘all on you be spry, and don't stop stirrin till the pudden's done’. 1869Spurgeon John Ploughman's Talk 14 If some of the members..were a little more spry with their arms and legs when they are at labour. 1888R. Buchanan Heir of Linne xiii, I'll have to be pretty spry, or they'll begin to discuss me.
(c)1837R. Nicoll Poems (1843) 164, I once was loved,—I loved again The spreest lad in a' our glen. 1892J. Lumsden Sheeph. & Trotters 76 The wagtail, sae spree, In the golden evenings here shall linger.
b. Alert, clever.
1849Cupples Green Hand xi. (1856) 106 And says Job Price,..‘You're too cust spry for playin' jokes on, I calc'late, squire,’ he says.
2. dial. Spruce, neat, smartly dressed.
1806A. Douglas Poems 144 Syne hame they gang..To busk themsels fu' trig and spree; For raggit they're an' dirty. 1854–in dialect glossaries.
3. As adv. Nimbly, actively.
1855Haliburton Nature & Hum. Nat. I. 227 They call us shakers, from shaking our feet so spry.
Hence ˈspryly adv.; ˈspryness.
1865Reader No. 145. 393/2 A spryness of legs quite remarkable. 1905M. E. Wilkins Debtor 417 Then she hopped off as spryly as a sparrow.
▪ III. spry, v. rare.|spraɪ|
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To smarten up.
1878S. Smiles Jerdan Ess. & Lyrics 199 Robbie Bell, spried up and clean Wi' weel-spun hose and buckled shoon.
2. intr. To bustle or stir.
1885Harper's Mag. April 707/2 She'll get over it, and be spryin' around to marry again.
▪ IV. spry(e
obs. forms of spray n.2 |