spleet

spleet noun: a small strip of split wood or willow.

Noun

spleet (countable and uncountable, plural spleets)

(obsolete) A small strip of split wood or willow.
- But if the hiue be more then fourteene inches ouer within, it may wel receiue foure ſpleets.1609, Char[les] Butler, “Of the Hiues, and the Dressing of Them”, in The Feminine Monarchie. Or A Treatise Concerning Bees, and the Due Ordering of Them: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Ioseph Barnes...
- Your Hive being pruned put in your ſpleets, 3 or 4 of them, as the largeneſs of your hive ſhall require, the upper ends whereof ſet together at the top of the hive, and the lower faſten about a handful above the Skirt; beſides theſe ſpleets within the hive, the ſtraw hive muſt have 4 other ſpleets...a. 1680, J[onas] Moore, “Of the Hives and Manner of Dressing Them”, in Englands Interest: or The Gentleman and Farmers Friend. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J. How, […], published 1703, →OCLC, page...

spleet (third-person singular simple present spleets, present participle spleeting, simple past and past participle spleeted)

(obsolete, transitive) To fit (a beehive) with slips of wood.
- And this is the eaſieſt & quickeſt way of ſpleeting a hiue: it is alſo ſtrong enough for bearing the combs, and beſt for taking them forth without breaking. Beſides which there are divers ſortes of ſpleeting needleſſe to be rehearſed: for every country hath his faſhion.1609, Char[les] Butler, “Of the Hiues, and the Dressing of Them”, in The Feminine Monarchie. Or A Treatise Concerning Bees, and the Due Ordering of Them: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Ioseph Barnes...
- But before we have done with the Hives, we muſt not forget the Spleeting of them. The way they uſually Spleet the ordinary Strawn and Daubed Hives, every Countrey Coridon underſtands.1681, J[ohn] W[orlidge], “Of Bees”, in Systema Agriculturæ; the Mystery of Husbandry Discovered. […], 3rd edition, London: […] Tho. Dring, […] Sold by R. Clavel […], →OCLC, section III (Of Insects)...

spleet (third-person singular simple present spleets, present participle spleeting, simple past and past participle spleeted)

(ambitransitive, later chiefly Scotland) To split.
- Piſcem exdorſuare, […] To ſpleete out, oꝛ part alongeſt the ridge bone iuſt in the midſt.1585, Adrianus Iunius, translated by Iohn Higins, The Nomenclator, or Remembrancer of Adrianus Iunius Physician, […], London: […] Ralph Newberie, and Henrie Denham, →OCLC, page 62, column 2
- Of the ſpleeting in the ſhoulder, or renting the ſhoulder from the breaſt of the Horſe.1585, Christ[opher] Clifford, The Schoole of Horsmanship. Wherein Is Discouered What Skill and Knowledge Is Required in a Good Horseman, Practised by Perfect Experience. […], London: […] [Thomas...

The combs of common hives cannot be taken out whole (though ſpleeted according to my directions) without an iron inſtrument in form of an L.1796, John Keys, “Extraction of Honey and Wax”, in The Antient Bee-Master’s Farewell; or, Full and Plain Directions for the Management of...
[I]t offends mee to the ſoule, to heare a robuſtious perwig-pated fellowe tere a paſſion to totters, to very rags, to ſpleet the eares of the groundlings, […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […]...
[M]ine owne tongue / Spleet’s what it ſpeakes: […]c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies...
Hurdles, made in form of Gates, either of ſpleeted Timber or of Hazle Rods, they either ſerve for gates in Encloſures or to make Sheep-folds or the like.1681, J[ohn] W[orlidge], “Dictionarium Rusticum: or, The Interpretations and Significations of Several Rustick Terms, &c.”, in Systema...

Noun
plural	spleets
Verb
third-person singular present	spleets
present participle	spleeting
past participle	spleeted
past	spleeted

From Middle Dutch spleet, splete or Middle Low German splete, North Frisian splēt, related to split.

Obscurely related to split. Compare the noun and rare Middle Low German spleeten.

What does spleet mean?: Spleet means a small strip of split wood or willow.
How do you use spleet in a sentence?: The combs of common hives cannot be taken out whole (though ſpleeted according to my directions) without an iron inſtrument in form of an L.
What part of speech is spleet?: Spleet can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of spleet?: The plural of spleet is spleets.

Adapted from Wiktionary: spleet (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “spleet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spleet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.