Spurt vs Quirt - What's the difference?
spurt | quirt |
To cause to gush out suddenly or violently in a stream or jet.
To rush from a confined place in a small stream or jet.
* Alexander Pope
* 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21
To make a strong effort for a short period of time.
A brief gush, as of liquid spurting from an orifice or a cut/wound.
A sudden and energetic effort, as in an emergency; an increased exertion for a brief space.
* T. Hughes
(slang) Ejaculation of semen. (rfex)
(obsolete) A shoot; a bud.
A rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide.
*about 1900 , O. Henry,
*:He sprang into the saddle easily as a bird, got the quirt from the horn, and gave his pony a slash with it.
*
* 1920 , , The Understanding Heart , Chapter I:
* 1973 , (Kyril Bonfiglioli), Don't Point That Thing at Me , Penguin (2001), page 96:
*:She raised the handle of her beautiful quirt to her eyes and scanned the Western horizon.
* 1994 , (Cormac McCarthy), The Crossing :
As verbs the difference between spurt and quirt
is that spurt is while quirt is to strike with a quirt.As a noun quirt is
a rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide.spurt
English
Verb
(en verb)- Thus the small jet, which hasty hands unlock, / Spurts in the gardener's eyes who turns the cock.
- With that he pulled open his shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some to the . . . Oh, my God! My God! What have I done?
- ''The bullion market spurted on Thursday.
- ''The runners spurted to the last lap as if they had extracted new energy from the applauds of the audience.
Synonyms
* spirt * spoutNoun
(en noun)- a spurt of water; a spurt of blood
- The boss's visit prompted a brief spurt of activity.
- The long, steady sweep of the so-called "paddle" tried him almost as much as the breathless strain of the spurt .
- (Holland)
Derived terms
* growth spurtAnagrams
* English terms with unknown etymologies ----quirt
English
Noun
(en noun)- He paused a moment and flicked a sage-brush with his quirt .
- He rode his horse with the reins tied and he wore a pistol at his belt and a plain flatcrowned hat of a type no longer much seen in that country and he wore tooled boots to his knees and carried a quirt .