spritishadj.
/ˈsprʌɪtɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈspraɪdɪʃ/ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > inspiration or revelation > [adjective] > relating to fancied inspiration
spritish1538
enthusiastic1578
enthusiastical1607
enthusiast1862
1538 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Sarcerius Common Places of Script. f. cxcii Ye weyke brethren shal folow euill exemples and maners, which the rash brethren, & for the most parte to moche spritish vse amonges suche as haue not yet herd the pure kynde of lernynge.
1566 T. Stapleton Returne Vntruthes Jewelles Replie iii. f. 127v Heretikes now are so Spritishe and Impatient, that where they haue no Iurisdiction at all, yet they dare to kyl Priestes, to chainge magistrates, and to sett forthe the Gospell with sword and terror.
1566 J. Martiall Replie to Calfhills Blasphemous Answer x. f. 205v The catholiques, when the figure is blurred out, or the image broken, passe as litle for the wood and the cold canckred corrupte metall, as the most spritish puritane and pieuish protestant that lyueth.
2. Resembling or typical of (that of) an incorporeal being or sprite; having the characteristics of a sprite (cf. sprite n. 3a). Hence: (in early use) ghostly; wicked, diabolical, malicious; (now chiefly) mischievous, lively, high-spirited; (also) diminutive. Cf. impish adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > playful mischievousness > [adjective]
knavish1552
spritish1566
wickeda1616
monkeyish1621
impish1652
mischievous1675
slya1771
nineteda1798
wansonsy1819
Pucklike1845
picklesome1885
monkey-doodle1886
1566 T. Nuce tr. Octavia ii. v. sig. D.j.v Shew forth thy fearefull spritish face, O Claudius now from Limbo lake.
1572 Treat. Treasons against Q. Elizabeth i. f. 56 Euery man may..take al his whole tale for a wicked spritish lye.
1602 W. Watson Decacordon Ten Quodlibeticall Questions 238 Thou daily dost minister new matter to increase our home persecutions, by thy spritish cruelty.
1647 Plague at Westm. sig. A2v Consider..the continuall hell, torments,..and infinite other spritish fits and agonies you have brought upon us.
1831 J. P. Kennedy Swallow Barn (1962) xxix. 263 His [Old Nick's] spritish family had moved off..to the back settlements.
1871 A. S. Richardson Stories from Old Eng. Poetry 88 Moved by her own spritish fancy, she chose the braggart knight, whose temper was of the sort that pleased her best.
1917 Harper's Bazar Dec. 98/3 The oddest instance that surely had ever happened of mischievous, spritish trickery.
1999 New Eng. Rev. 20 124 She turned to me and she had this spritish grin, and she mashed her lipsticked mouth against mine.
2005 Times Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 27 Oct. d7 Petite and spritish, with impish bangs like Audrey Tautou in Amelie.
Derivatives
ˈspritishly adv. rare
ΚΠ
1592 G. Harvey Foure Lett. 58 Ignis fatuus [was] never so spritishly busy.
1906 W. B. Maxwell Gen. Mallock's Shadow (1913) v. 52 The horse..swung round and round spritishly.
1963 B. Pearson Coal Flat vii. 144 The resistance both..offered to anything ‘soft’ like ‘romance’ into which Cupid, in the form of the two schoolgirls, was teasingly and spritishly pushing them.
ˈspritishness n. rare
ΚΠ
1567 J. Rastell Briefe Shew False Wares vii. f. 95 The new Ghospellers of this age, haue proceeded still from naught to worse, and are now come some of them, to such a diuine spritishnes, that they contemne the studie of the Scriptures as a carnall thing and vnprofitable.
1900 M. S. Rawson Lady of Regency (1901) x. 291 One..whose spritishness is likely to prove more teasing than any of us have dreamt.
2017 Times Colonist (Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 17 Mar. c12 Bayne was a standout as Puck. A long-limbed, technically accomplished dancer..she brought out the character's spritishness through jerky movements and cheeky facial expressions.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.1538