Part 636

Spending money, money set apart for extra (not necessary) personal expenses; pocket money. [Colloq.]

Spend"thrift` (?), n. One who spends money profusely or improvidently; a prodigal; one who lavishes or wastes his estate. Also used figuratively.

A woman who was a generous spendthrift of life.

Mrs. R. H. Davis.

Spend"thrift, a. Prodigal; extravagant; wasteful.

Spend"thrift`y (?), a. Spendthrift; prodigal. [R.]

Spen*se"ri*an (?), a. Of or pertaining to the English poet Spenser; -- specifically applied to the stanza used in his poem "The Faërie Queene."

Spent (spnt), a. 1. Exhausted; worn out; having lost energy or motive force.

Now thou seest me Spent, overpowered, despairing of success.

Addison.

Heaps of spent arrows fall and strew the ground.

Dryden.

2. (Zoöl.) Exhausted of spawn or sperm; -- said especially of fishes.

Spent ball, a ball shot from a firearm, which reaches an object without having sufficient force to penetrate it.

{ Sper (?), Sperre }, v. t. [See Spar bar.] To shut in; to support; to inclose; to fasten. [Obs.] "To sperre the gate." Spenser.

Spe"ra*ble (?), a. [L. spearabilis, fr. sperare to hope.] Within the range of hpe; proper to be hoped for. [Obs.] Bacon.

Sper"a*ble (?), n. See Sperable.

Sper"age (?), n. Asperagus. [Obs.] Sylvester.

Spe"rate (?), a. [L. speratus, p. p. of sperare to hope.] Hoped for, or to be hoped for. [R.] Bouvier.

Spere (?), v. i. [AS. spyrian to inquire, properly, to follow the track; akin to D. speuren, G. spüren, Icel. spyrja. √171. See Spoor.] To search; to pry; to ask; to inquire. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.] [Written also speer, speir.] Jamieson.

Spere, n. [See Sphere.] A sphere. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Sperge (?), n. (Distilling) A charge of wash for the still. Knight.

Sper"ling (?), n. [See Sparling.] (Zoöl.) (a) A smelt; a sparling. [Prov. Eng.] (b) A young herring. [Local, U.S.]

Sperm (?), n.[F. sperme, L. sperma, Gr. &?;&?;&?;, &?;&?;&?;, from &?;&?;&?;&?; to sow. Cf. Spore.] (Physiol.) The male fecundating fluid; semen. See Semen.

Sperm cell (Physiol.), one of the cells from which the spermatozoids are developed. -- Sperm morula. (Biol.) Same as Spermosphere.

Sperm, n.[Contr. fr. spermaceti.] Spermaceti.

Sperm oil, a fatty oil found as a liquid, with spermaceti, in the head cavities of the sperm whale. -- Sperm whale. (Zoöl.) See in the Vocabulary.

Sper`ma*ce"ti (?), n. [L. sperma sperm + cetus,gen. ceti, any large sea animal, a whale, Gr. &?;&?;&?;. See Sperm, Cetaceous.] A white waxy substance obtained from cavities in the head of the sperm whale, and used making candles, oilments, cosmetics, etc. It consists essentially of ethereal salts of palmitic acid with ethal and other hydrocarbon bases. The substance of spermaceti after the removal of certain impurities is sometimes called cetin.