Dictionary entry

Spray

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Spray (sprā), n. [Cf. Dan. sprag. See Sprig.] 1. A small shoot or branch; a twig. Chaucer.

The painted birds, companions of the spring,

Hopping from spray to spray, were heard to sing. Dryden.

2. A collective body of small branches; as, the tree has a beautiful spray.

And from the trees did lop the needless spray. Spenser.

3. (Founding) (a) A side channel or branch of the runner of a flask, made to distribute the metal in all parts of the mold. (b) A group of castings made in the same mold and connected by sprues formed in the runner and its branches. Knight.

Spray drain(Agric.), a drain made by laying under earth the sprays or small branches of trees, which keep passages open.