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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SPRAT, n. Also spratt and met. form spart (Sc. 1887 Jam.). Cf. Spret, n.¹, Sprot, n.¹, [sprat]

1. A coarse, reedy grass or rush growing on marshy ground and sometimes used in rope-making and stack-thatching, Juncus articulatus (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Sc. 1886 B. & H. Plant Names 448; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 267; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Slg., Bwk. 1971).Abd. 1746 Monymusk Papers (S.H.S.) 173:
Grass and sprats cut in many places.Sc. 1776 Kames Gentleman Farmer 172:
A sprat is not an evergreen for it dies away in winter.Gall. 1784 A. Wight Present State Husbandry III. 96:
A coarse rushy grass, commonly called sprat in this part of the country.Ags. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ V. 358:
Producing bushes, spratt, and bent.Slk. 1798 R. Douglas Agric. Slk. 245:
To give all the houses a new covering of rushes or sprats every year.Bwk. 1853 G. Johnston Botany E. Borders 199:
There is not much danger of lairing where Sprats grow abundantly.

Derivs. ¶(1) spratly, adj., rush-like, rushy, poss. a misprint for (2); (2) spratty, adj., (i) id.; (ii) producing rushes, abounding in rushes.(1) Slk. 1894 J. Russell Yarrow 75:
The grass is long, coarse, and spratly.(2) (i) Slk. 1794 T. Johnston Agric. Slk. 13:
Where the soil is wet and spongy, the grass is long, coarse, and spratty.(ii) Sc. 1808 Edb. Encycl. I. 253:
A trial was made on a piece of exceeding stiff spratty lee.

2. The coarse outer bark of flax found fragmented in newly woven linen when badly scratched.Sc. 1756 F. Home Bleaching 28. 211:
When the cloth has an equal colour, and is mostly freed from the sprat, or outer bark of the lint, it is then thought fit for souring. . . . Lime is by no means fit for discharging the oil in the cloth, but for cleaning it of the dead part, commonly called sprat.