Word.ws English Dictionary

spreath

/spɹiːθ/

spreath noun: a raid in order to steal cattle.

Noun

spreath (countable and uncountable, plural spreaths)

  1. (Scotland, obsolete) A raid in order to steal cattle.
    • It was then as much the scene of continual spreaths, liftings, reavings, and herriments, as the Border country itself.1836, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 3, page 426

Forms of spreath

pluralspreaths

Origin of spreath

From Scots, from Scottish Gaelic sprèidh, from Middle Irish spréid (“cattle, wealth”), from Latin praeda (“plunder, spoils; profit; prey”), thus a doublet of prey. Per one hypothesis, also a doublet of spree.

Questions about spreath

What does spreath mean?
Spreath means a raid in order to steal cattle.
What part of speech is spreath?
Spreath is a noun.
How do you pronounce spreath?
Spreath is pronounced /spɹiːθ/.
What is the plural of spreath?
The plural of spreath is spreaths.

Words near spreath in the dictionary

  1. spreadwing
  2. spreadwings
  3. spready
  4. spreagh
  5. spreaghs
  6. spreath
  7. spreathe
  8. spreathed
  9. spreathes
  10. spreathing
  11. spreaths

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spreath (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.

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