sprit

Etymology 1

From Middle English sprete, from Old English sprēot (“pole, pike, spear”), from Proto-Germanic *spreut, related to Proto-West Germanic *sprutō (“shoot, sprout”). Cognate with West Frisian spriet (“sprit, spoke”), Dutch spriet (“a sprit, blade, spar, shoot, sprig”), Middle High German spriez (“sprout, twig”).

noun

1. (nautical) A spar between mast and upper outer corner of a spritsail on sailing boats.
   ... and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits. 1899, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Heart of Darkness
2. A shoot; a sprout.

Etymology 2

Variant of spurt, spirt (“to sprout, burst”).

verb

1. To sprout; to bud; to germinate, as barley steeped for malt.
2. To throw out with force from a narrow orifice; to eject; to spurt out.