Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SPORT, v.i.

1. To play; to frolick; to wanton. See the brisk lambs that sport along the mead. – Anon.
2. To trifle. The man that laughs at religion sports with his own salvation.

SPORT, v.t.

1. To divert; to make merry; used with the reciprocal pronoun. Against whom do ye sport yourselves? – Is. lvii.
2. To represent by any kind of play. Now sporting on thy lyre the love of youth. – Dryden.

SPORT'ER, n.

One who sports.

SPORT'FUL, a.

1. Merry; frolicksome; full of jesting; indulging in mirth or play; as, a sportful companion. Down he alights among the sportful herd. – Milton.
2. Ludicrous; done in jest or for mere play. These are no sportful productions of the soil. – Bentley.

SPORT'FUL-LY, adv.

In mirth; in jest; for the sake of diversion; playfully.

SPORT'FUL-NESS, n.

Play; merriment; frolick; a playful disposition; playfulness; as, the sportfulness of kid and lambs.

SPORT'IVE, a.

1. Gay; merry; wanton; frolicksome. Is it I / That drive thee from the sportive court. – Shak.
2. Inclined to mirth; playful; as, a sportive humor.

SPORT'IVE-LY, adv.

Gayly; merrily; playfully.

SPORT'IVE-NESS, a.

1. Playfulness; mirth; merriment. – Walton.
2. Disposition to mirth.

SPORT'LESS, a.

Without sport or mirth; joyless.

SPORTS'MAN, a. [spore and men.]

1. One who pursues the sports of the field; one who hunts, fishes and fowls.
2. One skilled in the sports of the field. – Addison.

SPORTS'MAN-SHIP, n.

The practice of sportsmen.

SPORT'U-LA-RY, a. [from L. sporta, a basket, an alms-basket.]

Subsisting on alms or charitable contributions. [Little used.] – Hall.

SPORT'ULE, n. [L. sportula, a little basket.]

An alms; a dole; a charitable gift or contribution. [Not use.] – Ayliffe.

SPOR'ULE, n.

A diminutive of Spore, – which see.

SPOT, n. [D. spat, a spot, spavin, a pop-gun; spatten, to spot, to spatter; Dan. spette, a spot, and spet, a pecker; svart spet, a woodpecker. We see this word is of the family of spatter, and that the radical sense is to throw or thrust. A spot is made by spattering or sprinkling.]

1. A mark on a substance made by foreign matter; a speck; a blot; a place discolored. The least spot is visible on white paper.
2. A stain on character or reputation; something that soils purity; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish. See 1 Pet. i. 17. Eph. v.27. Yet Chloe sure was form'd without a spot. – Pope.
3. A small extent of space; a place; any particular place. The spot to which I point is paradise. – Milton. Fix'd to one spot. – Otway. So we say, a spot of ground, a spot of grass or flowers; meaning a place of small extent.
4. A place of a different color from the ground; as, the spots of a leopard.
5. A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above its beak.
6. A dark place on the disk or face of the sun or of a planet.
7. A lucid place in the heavens. Upon the spot, immediately; before moving; without changing place. [So the French say, sur le champ.] It was determined upon the spot. – Swift.

SPOT, v.t.

1. To make a visible mark with some foreign matter; to discolor; to stain; as, to spot a garment; to spot paper.
2. To patch by way of ornament. – Addison.
3. To stain; to blemish; to taint; to disgrace; to tarnish; as reputation. My virgin life no spotted thoughts shall stain. – Sidney. To spot timber, is to cut or chip it, in preparation for hewing.

SPOT'LESS, a.

1. Free from spots, foul matter or discoloration.
2. Free from reproach or impurity; pure; untainted; innocent; as, a spotless mind; spotless behavior. A spotless virgin and a faultless wife. – Waller.

SPOT'LESS-NESS, n.

Freedom from spot or stain; freedom from reproach. – Donne.

SPOTTED, pp.

Marked with spots or places of a different color from the ground; as, a spotted beast or garment.

SPOT'TED-NESS, n.

The state or quality of being spotted.

SPOT'TER, n.

One that makes spots.

SPOT'TI-NESS, n.

The state or quality of being spotty.

SPOT'TING, ppr.

Marking with spots; staining.

SPOT'TY, a.

Full of spots; marked with discolored places.