Spurt Meaning
/spɜːt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo cause to gush out suddenly or violently in a stream or jet.
verbTo rush from a confined place in a small stream or jet.
Sentence Examples
Tom had a growth spurt.
She experienced a sudden spurt of energy after drinking coffee.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Water began to ____ suddenly from the broken pipe under high pressure.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A sudden ____ of energy helped the runner cross the finish line just ahead of the other racers.
Word Origin & History
From earlier spirt, sprit (“to sprout”), from Middle English sprytten, from Old English spryttan, from Proto-West Germanic *spruttjan, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to strew, sow, sprinkle”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Thus the small jet, which hasty hands unlock, / Spurts in the gardener's eyes who turns the cock."
— 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:
"With that he pulled open his shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some to the . . . Oh, my God! My God! What have I done?"
— 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
"In the floor of the valley the line passes hills of fantastic shape, like sleeping camels and inverted washbasins, and you can see the beautiful lakes Naivasha and Elementeita; at Eburru jets of steam spurt out of the ground."
— 1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 265:
""Clean all your spurt off me, man." And so I did."
— 2019, R.W. Clinger, Stockton County Cowboys Box Set, JMS Books LLC, →ISBN:
"The Garden Sperages[…]send out at first certaine greene spurts or buds peeping forth of the ground."
— 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book II.]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Water began to ____ suddenly from the broken pipe under high pressure.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A sudden ____ of energy helped the runner cross the finish line just ahead of the other racers.