Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun plural The dung of an otter.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
spraint .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Some decades ago a Sacramento State graduate student named William Grenfell examined otter droppings-the British call them "spraints" - in Suisun Marsh for his master's thesis.
The Berkeley Daily Planet, The East Bay's Independent Newspaper 2009
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Some decades ago a Sacramento State graduate student named William Grenfell examined otter droppings-the British call them "spraints" - in Suisun Marsh for his master's thesis.
The Berkeley Daily Planet, The East Bay's Independent Newspaper 2009
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Here and there on the boardwalk, otter spraints tell of another blessing presence along the trout-and-minnow-rich river.
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Otters are taken in an unbaited trap, for they reject every kind of bait, This trap must be placed near his landing place, which will be found by carefully examining the edges of rivers or ponds, either by his spraints, his seal, or the remains of fish (for in whatever place he eats his plunder he always leaves the tail or hinder parts of the fish undevoured).
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Experts also look for spraints, which the animal leaves on prominent tufts and stones to mark its territory.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011
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Experts also look for spraints, which the animal leaves on prominent tufts and stones to mark its territory.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011
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Mundy Ellis has recorded and photographed the doings of otters at South Walsham in the Norfolk Broads day by day as they lollop around the boathouse, steal cat food from the garden and leave telltale droppings or spraints - "dark but sparkling with fish scales" - on the tin roof.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011
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Mundy Ellis has recorded and photographed the doings of otters at South Walsham in the Norfolk Broads day by day as they lollop around the boathouse, steal cat food from the garden and leave telltale droppings or spraints - "dark but sparkling with fish scales" - on the tin roof.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011
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We show our detectives how studying their spraints, or oily droppings, can tell us the kind of fish they've been eating, and therefore whether it's a coastal or freshwater otter that produced them.
Telegraph.co.uk: news business sport the Daily Telegraph newspaper Sunday Telegraph 2009
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FYI: the correct term for otter ‘droppings’ is ’spraints’.
une pièce montée 2008
reesetee commented on the word spraints
Chained_bear, you think *frass* is strange....
February 23, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word spraints
Dude. I'm speechless.
Hey! What if there are a bunch of these terms?! You should make a "Specific Excrement" list.
February 23, 2007
reesetee commented on the word spraints
Um...no, that's okay. You can do it.
No, really.
February 23, 2007
uselessness commented on the word spraints
If this list is made, never, ever read it.
February 23, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word spraints
Ha! Ha! I made that list, and I know you read it, uselessness!!
In your FACE!!
November 30, 2007
uselessness commented on the word spraints
Jeesh, that was nine frigging months ago, and I'm a different person now. Um, I also plead the fifth. If that doesn't work, I'm deeply sorry and hope from the bottom of my heart that you can find it within yourself to forgive me. Or at least give me some eye wash so I can purge the excremental photoresidue from my corneas.
November 30, 2007
reesetee commented on the word spraints
Just be sure it's not bodewash.
November 30, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word spraints
eeeew!! Yeah, be sure it snot bodewash.
This comment brought to you by Puerile Industries.
(a shameless ripoff of Arby's very funny comment on some other word recently...)
p.s. I love finding old conversations months later... tee hee...
December 1, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word spraints
See also spraint. Apparently otters can poo just one little bit of poo at a time. What a skill!!
May 13, 2011
Prolagus commented on the word spraints
Damn! Why didn't I think of checking if the plural was listed!
May 13, 2011
reesetee commented on the word spraints
Because you were busy typing paraskevidekatriaphobia into the search box. ;->
May 13, 2011
kawy commented on the word spraints
Dung of an otter; also spraintings. —B.E., Dictionary of the Canting Crew (1699)
September 30, 2015