Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

spurtle

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: spur-tle
IPA

9

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Either of two Scottish kitchen implements made of wood: a flat one for turning oatcakes, or a stick for stirring porridge.

verb

To spurt, spatter or sputter; to spurt in a scattering manner.

Example Sentences

""It was till lately believed by the ploughmen of Clydesdale, that if they repeated the rhyme Fairy, fairy, bake me a bannock and roast me a collop, And I'll gie ye a spurtle off my gadend! three several times on turning their cattle at the terminations of ridges, they would find the said fare prepared for them on reaching the end of the fourth furrow.""
"One day they built a fire in the yard and made a black kettle of apple butter so big that when they stood over it and stirred the apple mash with spurtles, the scene put Ada in mind of the witches in Macbeth working at their brew."
"Upon the head hee lent so violent a stroke, That the poore emptie skull, like some thin potsheard broke, The braines and mingled blood, were spertled on the wall"

Etymology

From Scots spurtle, spurtill (“potstick, spatula”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of Middle English spatyl, spatule, from Old French espatule (“spatula”). If so, then doublet of spattle and spatula.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: spurtle, spatyl, espatule
Suffix: spurt

Inflected Forms

spurtles (plural) spirtle (alternative) spertle (alternative) spurtles (present, singular) spurtling (participle, present) spurtled (participle, past) spurtled (past)

Questions

What does spurtle mean?: Either of two Scottish kitchen implements made of wood: a flat one for turning oatcakes, or a stick for stirring porridge.
Where does spurtle come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce spurtle

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “spurtle”.
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