2. (thieves').—A diamond: also sparkle. A spark-prop = a diamond breast-pin.
1879. Horsley, Auto. of Thief [Macmillan Mag., xl. 506]. Pipe his spark prop.
Verb. (Australian thieves').—To watch closely.
1901. Walker, In the Blood, 113, All you've got to do is to be sure o' your John, an' learn the time 'e comes round, spark him well away and do yer little does in the blooming hinterval.
A spark in the throat, subs. phr. (old).—Chronic thirst (Grose).
Sparkler, subs.—Anybody or
anything brilliant, gay, or lively:
see Spark.
1713. Addison, Guardian, No. 120. What would you say, should you see a sparkler shaking her elbow for a whole night together.
1879. H. W. Warren, Astronomy, 113. [Mercury] keeps so near the sun . . . that very few people have ever seen the brilliant sparkler.
Sparrow. Mumbling a sparrow,
phr. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Sparrow. A cruel sport practised at wakes and fairs: a booby, hands tied behind, has the wing of a cock-sparrow put into his mouth; without any other assistance than the motion of his lips he is to get the sparrow's head into his mouth; the bird defends itself surprisingly, pecking the mumbler till his lips are covered with blood and he is obliged to desist; to prevent the bird getting away he is fastened to the booby's coat.—[Abridged.]
Sparrow-catching, subs. phr.
(venery).—Walking the streets;
doing a flutter (q.v.).
Sparrowgrass (or Sparagras),
subs. (old colloquial).—Asparagus:
polite in the 18th Century; now
vulgar.
1649. Blythe, Eng. Improver Impr. (1652), 237. [The Hop plant] comes up with several sprouts like sparrowgrass.
1667. Pepys, Diary (1879), IV. 307. Brought with me from Fenchurch Street, a hundred of sparrowgrass.
1706. Phillips, Dict., s.v. Asparagus, a Plant call'd Sparrow-grass by the Common People.
1711. Greenwood, Eng. Gram., 190. Sperage, which the vulgar wrest to sparograss, or sparrowgrass.
1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, ii. 1. I should recommend the opening of a new branch of trade, sparagrass, gentlemen.
1801. Southey [C. Southey, Life, II. 134]. Sparagrass (it ought to be spelt so) and artichokes, good with plain butter.
Sparrow-mouth, subs. phr. (old).—'One
whose mouth cannot be
enlarged without removing the
ears'; as adj. = wide-mouthed:
'such persons do not hold their
mouths by lease but have it from
(y)ear to (y)ear' (Grose).
1621. Burton, Anat. Melan., III. II. v. 3. She . . . if she do but laugh or smile, makes an ugly sparrow-mouthed face.
1725. Bailey, Erasmus (1877), 31. Can you fancy that black-a-top, snub-nosed, sparrow-mouth, paunch-bellied creature?
Sparrow-tail, subs. phr. (common).—A
dress-coat; a swallow-tail,
clawhammer (q.v.).
1888. Eggleston, Graysons, xxvi. The lawyers in their blue sparrow-tail coats, with brass buttons, which constituted then [c. 1840] a kind of professional uniform.
Spat, subs. (American).—1. A
slap; a light blow; and (2) = a
petty quarrel; a snarling-match.
Also as verb. = (1) to slap; and
(2) to dispute, to quarrel. [Webster:
'A low word.']
1869. Stowe, Old Town Folks, 33. They was pretty apt to have spats.
1870. Judd, Margaret. The little Isabel leaped up and down spatting her hands.
1887. Amer. Correspondent, Notes and Queries, 12 Mar., 206. A spat between the feminine heads of two families.
