A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1513, 1566-1629
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Sprinkil(l, Sprinkle, v.1 Also: sprinckle, sprenkill. [ME and e.m.E. sprenkle (c1400), spryncle (1495), sprincle (1551), sprinckle (1576), sprinkle (1591), Du. sprenkelen, LG sprinkeln. Cf. Strinkill v.] tr.
1. To sprinkle (liquid), scatter in drops. 1513 Doug. viii vii 178 (Sm.).
Sum of the trouch apoun the sperkland gledis The byssand watter sprenkillis [C. strynklys] and ourspredis 1591 Criminal Trials I ii 250.
Quhilk dowblett the said wich sprinklit with blude 1604 Dundonald Par. Rec. 53.
Kaithrein Makteir brocht watter of hir making be herbis … and bad sprinkil it athort the ky or put it in thair lugis 1629 Dalyell Darker Superst. 184.
To take ane beast at Alhallow evin, and sprinkill thrie dropps of the bluid of it ben by the fyre
2. To sprinkle or strew (something or someone) with a substance. Also in fig. context. 1566-70 Buch. Comm. on Virgil Georgics i 193.
Semina vidi equidem multos medicare serentis: qui fecerunt imbuere semina (to steip quhyle sprincklit our with muck)fig. 1567 Gude and Godlie Ballatis 123 (D) (see Strinkill v. 1).
Sprinkle
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"Sprinkil v.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/sprinkill_v_1>
