Thenoun is derived fromMiddle Englishspate,spait(“a flood”),[1] influenced byScotsspate(“torrent of water, flood; heavy downpour of rain; (figurative) bout of drinking; large crowd of people; flood of events, words, etc.”).[2] The further etymology of the Middle English and Scots words is uncertain;[3] they are possibly related toEnglishspatter andDutchspatten(“to spatter, splash”),[2] possibly ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*sp(y)ēw-,*spyū- (whenceEnglishspit(“to evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.”)),[4] which isimitative of spitting.
Theverb is derived from the noun,[5] probably influenced byScotsspate(“to flood, swell; to rain heavily; (figurative) to scold fiercely”).[6]
1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e.,William Turner], “Of the Herbe Called Lepidium or Dittani”, inThe Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝[…], Cologne:[…] Arnold Birckman,→OCLC,folio 35, recto:
Thys Lepidium thatPliny &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 greatſpat or flood.
Arous'd by bluſtering vvinds an' ſpotting thovves, / In mony a torrent dovvn the ſnavv-broo rovves; / VVhile craſhing ice, borne on the roaringſpeat, / Svveeps dams, an' mills, an' brigs, a' to the gate;[…]]
The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent, / And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring / Stared at thespate. A slender-shafted Pine / Lost footing, fell, and so was whirled away.
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 suddenspates, many of the horses that were pastured on his banks.
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,page97, column 1:
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 ordinaryspate will not suffice to keep the river in good order for more than a couple of days.
At Odendaal, where he [Christiaan de Wet] had hoped to cross, the river was inspate, the British flag waved from a post upon the further side, and a strong force of expectant Guardsmen eagerly awaited him there.
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 roaringspate.
At the edge of the burn, where the path turns downward, there is a patch of shingle washed up by somespate.
1968 March 15, “Liang Chen-yu, a Good Cadre Reared on Mao Tse-tung's Thought”, inPeking Review[1], number11,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on29 January 2013, page19, column 1; republished asConfucianism[2],1973,→ISBN,→LCCN,→OCLC,page172:
After a rainstorm on July 29, 1966, the Shihtouyu River in Lonan County was in fullspate. Mountain torrents poured into it carrying silt and rocks down with them.
Thy rural loves are nature's ſel; / Nae bombaſtſpates o' nonſenſe ſwell; / Nae ſnap conceits, but that ſweet ſpell / O' witchin love,[…]
1826 September 6 (date written),Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 6 September 1826]”, inDavid Douglas, editor,The Journal of Sir Walter Scott[…], volume I, Edinburgh:David Douglas, published1890,→OCLC,page250:
Here is a finespate of work—a day diddled away, and nothing to show for it!
He couldnae weel tell how—maybe it was the cauld to his feet—but it cam' in upon him wi' aspate that there was some connection between thir twa, an' that either or baith o' them were bogles.
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 perfectspate of calumnies?
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 aspate of words to attain the fluency ofIsaeus; and that it slip not out too freely, avoid the danger of Strada [Zanobi da Strada?].
Thespate of similar cases filed and decided by lower courts since our decision inBaker [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.
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 aspate of heists in recent months.
Rush Limbaugh told millions of his radio listeners to set aside any suggestion that climate change was the culprit for the frighteningspate of wildfires ravaging California and the Pacific Northwest.
1844 October, J. Nevay, “Mary Hepburn; or, The Victim of Slander. Chapter X.”, inThe Ladies’ Cabinet of Fashion, Music, and Romance, volume II (New Series), London: G. Henderson,→OCLC,page255:
[H]e paused in a reverie of wilderment and wonder when he could not discern the old fishing-places—they were deeply and darkly flooded for many yards on every side of thespated stream.
An adjective use.
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,page97, column 1:
A few of the very best angling streams in the Highlands are almost perennial in their flow; the Halladale, on the contrary, is subject tospating.
A noun use.
1918, Robert B. Ross, “The Silent Guns”, inThe Fifty-first in France, London; New York, N.Y.:Hodder and Stoughton,→OCLC, part I (From May to December 1915),page84:
The gates of Anger open, and the flood, /Spated with hate, unstemmed of men, pours out, / Drenching the trench with hot and beaded blood, / Choking each challenging or anguish'd shout.
A figurative use.
[1938], Rajput[pseudonym; Arthur John Eardley Dawson], chapter 12, inKhyber Calling!, London:Hurst & Blackett,→OCLC, section 3,page181:
The day was lovely and clear after the rain. The river had notspated as much as I had expected, and there was only one place in my sector where lorries might have found difficulty in crossing thenala.
river strontian, argyll[…] This is a good example of a short, west-coastspating oligotrophic river.[…] The river is subject to a rise in water level of up to 1 m following heavy rain and the water is clear and fairly low in dissolved nutrients.
On one occasion the Segre wasspating after heavy rain and threatening to overflow, whereupon[Saint] Ermengol fell down on his knees "begging Christ that the force of the river might turn away from the Virgin Mother" and crying out, "O water, do you dare to perform this sacrilege so that you might break up the estate of the church because you are bored with your usual path? Desist from this crime, violator, I challenge you in the divine name to hear my prayer." The next day the waters subsided, and Ermengol was able to continue the construction of a bridge across the Segre.
2023, Nicholas Dobson, “The French Talk Themselves Up”, inThe Regal Throne: Power, Politics and Ribaldry: A Guide to Shakespeare’sRichard II,Henry IV Parts 1 and2, andHenry V, Eastbourne, East Sussex:Sussex Academic Press,→ISBN, book 4 (Reputation Redeemed! Henry V – Model Warrior King),page422:
He [Charles VI of France] therefore bids them 'Rush on his [Henry [V]'s] host' with the force of an Alpine riverspated with snow melt.
An originally popular (now standard language) alternative ofdos(“back”). FromRomanianspată(“shoulder blade”), in particular the phraseîn spate(“backwards, behind”), having developed in the sense of:through / across the shoulder blades >backwards, before developing into a concrete noun (without theîn) to express the back of objects in general.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,July 2023;“spate,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.