spate
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /speɪt/
rhymes: -eɪt
homophone: speight
Forms: form: spates
form: spat
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English spate, spait (“a flood”), influenced by Scots spate (“torrent of water, flood; heavy downpour of rain; (figurative) bout of drinking; large crowd of people; flood of events, words, etc.”). The further etymology of the Middle English and Scots words is uncertain; they are possibly related to English spatter and Dutch spatten (“to spatter, splash”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sp(y)ēw-, *spyū- (whence English spit (“to evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.”)), which is imitative of spitting.
The verb is derived from the noun, probably influenced by Scots spate (“to flood, swell; to rain heavily; (figurative) to scold fiercely”).
Senses: examples: text: Thys Lepidium that Pliny & Paul [of Aegina] deſcribe⸝ groweth plentuouſly about the water ſyde that rynneth thorow Morpeth in Northumberland⸝ in ſuche places as great heapes of ſtones are caſten together wyth the myght of a great ſpat or flood.
ref: 1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of the Herbe Called Lepidium or Dittani”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, →OCLC, folio 35, recto:
text: Arous'd by bluſtering vvinds an' ſpotting thovves, / In mony a torrent dovvn the ſnavv-broo rovves; / VVhile craſhing ice, borne on the roaring ſpeat, / Svveeps dams, an' mills, an' brigs, a' to the gate; […]
ref: [1787, Robert Burns, “Auld Brig”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 76:
text: The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent, / And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring / Stared at the spate. A slender-shafted Pine / Lost footing, fell, and so was whirled away.
ref: 1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Gareth and Lynette”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; V), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 37:
text: Scamander was indeed a great power for the Trojans; it was the great river of the country, […] His floods, however useful in time of war, would in time of peace do fearful damage. […] [H]e carried away, in sudden spates, many of the horses that were pastured on his banks.
ref: 1858, W[illiam] E[wart] Gladstone, Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age. […], volume III, Oxford, Oxfordshire: University Press, →OCLC, part II (Ilios. The Trojans Compared and Contrasted with the Greeks.), page 158:
text: It [the Halladale river] receives the whole of its water-supply from a number of hill burns and several lochs of inconsiderable extent. it follows, therefore, that after rain the surplus water soon runs out, and the river soon dwindles down to an almost unfishable condition. […] An ordinary spate will not suffice to keep the river in good order for more than a couple of days.
ref: 1886 February 20, W. Murdoch, “Salmon and Trout-fishing in the Highlands of Scotland.—VII. The Halladale (Sutherlandshire).”, in R. B. Marston, editor, The Fishing Gazette; Devoted to Angling, River, Lake, and Sea Fishing and Fish Culture, volume XII, London: Charles William Bradley & Co. […], →OCLC, page 97, column 1:
text: At Odendaal, where he [Christiaan de Wet] had hoped to cross, the river was in spate, the British flag waved from a post upon the further side, and a strong force of expectant Guardsmen eagerly awaited him there.
ref: 1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Campaign of De Wet”, in The Great Boer War […], revised (American) edition, New York, N.Y.: McClure Phillips & Company, →OCLC, page 309:
text: The snow had left the bottoms and valleys and nestled only on the north slopes of the ice-scarred ridges. The glacial drip was already in evidence, and every creek in roaring spate.
ref: 1902 October, Jack London, chapter XXIII, in A Daughter of the Snows, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 235:
text: At the edge of the burn, where the path turns downward, there is a patch of shingle washed up by some spate.
ref: 1910, John Buchan, “The Man on the Kirkcaple Shore”, in Prester John, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, →OCLC, page 86:
text: After a rainstorm on July 29, 1966, the Shihtouyu River in Lonan County was in full spate. Mountain torrents poured into it carrying silt and rocks down with them.
ref: 1968 March 15, “Liang Chen-yu, a Good Cadre Reared on Mao Tse-tung's Thought”, in Peking Review, number 11, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2013, page 19, column 1; republished as Confucianism, 1973, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 172:
glosses: A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation.
examples: text: Doun comes a jaw o' droukin' rain / Upon their honours— / God sends a spate outower the plain, / Or mebbe thun'ers.
ref: [1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Blast—1875”, in Underwoods (in Scots), London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, book II (In Scots), page 101:
glosses: A sudden heavy downpour of rain.
examples: text: Thy rural loves are nature's ſel; / Nae bombaſt ſpates o' nonſenſe ſwell; / Nae ſnap conceits, but that ſweet ſpell / O' witchin love, […]
ref: 1869, Robert Burns, “Poem on Pastoral Poetry”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume III (Posthumous Poems), Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, →OCLC, page 45:
text: Here is a fine spate of work—a day diddled away, and nothing to show for it!
ref: 1826 September 6 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 6 September 1826]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume I, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890, →OCLC, page 250:
text: He couldnae weel tell how—maybe it was the cauld to his feet—but it cam' in upon him wi' a spate that there was some connection between thir twa, an' that either or baith o' them were bogles.
ref: [1881 October, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Thrawn Janet”, in The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables, 1st American (authorized) edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1887, →OCLC, page 156:
text: But, my dear David, this world is a censorious place—as who should know it better than myself, who have lived ever since the days of my late departed father, God sain him! in a perfect spate of calumnies?
ref: 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “A Twosome”, in Catriona, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 331:
text: Only let your language match your subject, then it will be shapely and free; but take care all the time not to overwhelm your work in a spate of words to attain the fluency of Isaeus; and that it slip not out too freely, avoid the danger of Strada [Zanobi da Strada?].
ref: 1928, Thomas Browne, “To a Friend Intending a Difficult Work”, in W[illiam] R[chard] LeFanu, transl., edited by Geoffrey Keynes, The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, new edition, volume III, London: Faber & Faber, published 1964, →OCLC, page 155:
text: The spate of similar cases filed and decided by lower courts since our decision in Baker [v. Carr] amply shows that the problem of state legislative malapportionment is one that is perceived to exist in a large number of the States.
ref: 1964 June 15, Earl Warren, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the United States (delivering the court’s opinion), “Reynolds, Judge, et al. v. Sims, et al.”, in Henry Putzel, jr., reporter, United States Reports: Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court at October Term, 1963 […], volume 377, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, section II, page 556:
text: The audacious hijacking in Paris of a van carrying the baggage of a Saudi prince to his private jet is obviously an embarrassment to the French capital, whose ultra-high-end boutiques have suffered a spate of heists in recent months.
ref: 2014 August 21, “A brazen heist in Paris”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2023:
text: Rush Limbaugh told millions of his radio listeners to set aside any suggestion that climate change was the culprit for the frightening spate of wildfires ravaging California and the Pacific Northwest.
ref: 2020 September 15, Michael M. Grynbaum, Tiffany Hsu, “‘Nothing to do with climate change’: Conservative media and Trump align on fires”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Oct 2023:
glosses: A sudden increase or rush of something; a flood, an outburst, an outpouring.