spree n.
1. a hearty, boisterous good time, thus spree-hunter, a devotee of such amusements.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘Exciseman Outwitted’ in (1979) II 98: They arriv’d at an inn and relat’d the spree. | |
| Life in St George’s Fields 7: The many nightly sprees we have had together in this place. | |
| Bk of Sports 8: Those sort of choice spirits who are always ready for a ‘spree’ [...] to keep them from getting into more serious mischief at home. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Glance at N.Y. I ii: No, sir-ree! I’m open for a spree! | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Cornwall Chron. (Launceston, Tas.) 11 Aug. 2/7: A party of pleasure (or as their slang goes, a prime spree, or a lark). | |
| Bell’s Penny Dispatch 27 Mar. 3/2: Amidst the modern school of spree-hunters, this nob of nobility is counted number one. | |
| ‘Ruff Sam’s Bear Fight’ Spirit of the Times 4 Mar. (N.Y.) 14: I was skinin’ of her when the boys kum up, an’ sech a nuther spree we had arter we got to the Squire’s I never spects to have agin. | |
| Our Antipodes III 135: The cabbage-tree mob [...] are always ready for a ‘spree’. | |
| Athens Post (TN) 22 Feb. 1/7: The entire legislature of Texas took a ‘spree’ together. | |
| Wild Boys of London I 128/2: ‘Here’s a spree!’ shouted Jack, dancing an extempore dance on the kerb. | |
| Geelong Advertiser (Vic.) 21 Nov. 2/7: [I]f they want what in slang is termed ‘a spree’ they can get as jolly on it [i.e. ‘colonial wine’] as they can on anything else. | |
| Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 7 Jan. 1/7: Sometimes he may be tempted out on a ‘lark,’ or a ‘spree’. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Knocknagow 274: He had almost made up his mind that the cordial at Ned Brophy’s wedding would have proved the commencement of a protracted ‘spree’, which would cost Norah much anxiety and suffering. | |
 | Willoughby Captains (1887) 103: ‘We’ve just been down to see the boats. Awful spree to see old Riddell steering!’. | |
| Robbery Under Arms (1922) 2: The jolly sprees we used to have in the bush townships. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 1 July 1/6: There was only one J.P. in the district, and he dearly loved a spree. | |
| ‘Bill’s Lapse’ in Monkey’s Paw (1962) 108: We ’ad a bit of a spree last night [...] My throat’s as dry as a cinder. | |
| Off the Track in London 170: The moving spirit of the ‘spree’ is a typical American ‘cattleman’. | |
| ‘Mitchell on the “Situation”’ in Roderick (1972) 716: At their last shanty spree together, English Bill had backed up Adelaide Adolphus to take down German Charley. | |
| Ulysses 569: A fourwheeler, probably engaged by some fellows inside on the spree. | |
| Anderby Wold (1981) 277: I’m taking missus in tid Hardrascliffe to-night for a bit o’ spree like. | |
| in Limerick (1953) 212: There was an old whore named McGee / Who was just the right sort for a spree. | |
| Monkey On My Back (1954) 118: The headlines read: teen age hoods stage gun spree in little spain. | |
| No Beast So Fierce 40: Willy kept talking about Red’s spree, which was an extension of the spree he’d been on for a dozen years. | |
| Guardian Guide 12-18 June 15: Tilly and Chucky [...] are hooking up for a slash and stab spree. | |
| ‘Grave Doubt’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 103: Graham stayed mobile. His spree turf stretched wide. [...] He spreed for seven days. | |
| Observer Screen 9 Jan. 10: They meet [...] at an LA poker casino and break up after a spree in Reno. | |
| Morn. Call (Allentown, PA) 9 Feb. PA17/1: A man who [...] went on a crime spree in Whitehall township [...] will now have to keep himself busy behind bars. | |
| Austin American-Statesman *TX) 4 Feb. A2/2: A 28-year-old Italioan [...] is accused of shooting [...] six African immigrants [...] in a two-hour drive-by shooting spree. |
2. a prolonged bout of drinking; thus on/upon a/the spree, out on a party; spreeing it, drinking excessively.
| Tom and Jerry III iii: Law, lovee, no, it’s only some gemmen out on the spree. I dare say dat dey’ll stand a drop o’ summat all round. | |
| Elbow-Shakers! I ii: Follow, follow for a Spree; / I’ll stand a mug of Mountain. | |
| Comic Almanack Jan. 302: Tom’s journey ended, begins his spree; / Slap into the Bull and Mouth drives he. | |
| (con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor I 184/1: When the stall-keeper above mentioned was away ‘on the spree,’ he took up his stand. | |
| ‘Six Years in the Prisons of England’ in Temple Bar Mag. Jan. 218: They both got on the ‘spree’ in London. | |
| Mercury (Hobart) 23 Apr. 2/5: [from the Stranraer Free Press] [...] on the skyte, on the spree, on the batter. | |
| Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa (1887) 127: How about your Pa spreeing it? | |
| ‘It’s Enough to Make a Parson Swear’ 🎵 The housemaid’s leaving, and the cook’s on the spree, [...] It’s enough to make a parson swear! | |
| Liza of Lambeth (1966) 27: Bust it, I don’t go on the spree every day! | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 26 Nov. 130: He is a very steady fellow [...] I cannot believe that he has been on the spree. | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 9 Feb. 291: He came into Horwich to go on a spree. | |
| Mr Dooley Says 36: Th’ married men start all th’ wars with loose talk whin they’re on a spree. | |
| Big Town 53: This trip wasn’t planned as no spree for you. | |
| Ascent of F6 I ii: You never know, perhaps one day / Better luck will come our way: / It might be tomorrow. You wait and see. / But, whenever it happens, we’ll go on a spree! | |
| Capricornia (1939) 21: Chook was off duty on the spree. | |
| Mass-Observation Report on Juvenile Drinking 8: ‘We take half a dozen bottles of beer to one of our houses and then we have a bit of a spree.’ (Boy, 16, Fulham). | |
| They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 139: Joe said they were ‘coal-miners arrivin’ back from a spree’. | |
| ‘Go To Sea No More’ in et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 522: When first I went to Frisco, I went upon the spree. | |
| Yarns of Billy Borker 144: Old Joe Parsnip gave up his night-soil round and went on the spree. | |
| Living Black 29: They’ve come in from the reserves and they have a big spree when they get their pension cheques. | |
| Emerald Square 176: If one of the girls was not with him when he collected his old age pension, he went on a spree. | |
| (con. 1964) Never a Normal Man 150: He squandered his life and his genius [...] but he took the world out on a spree. |
In derivatives
1. tipsy, drunk.
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 12: Blood (a.) — a man of high family connexion [...] and a little spree-ish. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 18 Sept. 3/3: An agreement [...] which John had unconsciously signed in a spreeish moment. | |
| Paved with Gold 265: You’re as spreeish an old lass as ever sucked at a bottle. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 15 June 3/2: A spreeish looking youth whistleing [sic] to the appropriate name of Bobby Larkin. | |
| Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 301: Proprietors [...] are frequently annoyed in this way by drunken or spreeish parties. | |
| Amer. Jrnl Psychology 11 346: [...] spiffed, spoon drunk, spoony drunk, spreeish, sprung, squiffed. |
2. hedonistic.
| New Sprees of London 4: Such was the style of chaff that the fly, spreeish Harry Flashton pattered to his yokel of a cousin. |
In compounds
1. a very well-dressed man, a dandy; also as adj.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | cited in Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980). | |
| (con. mid-1950s) Catch a Fire 139: The top DJs, King Sporty and King Stitt, looking strictly ‘spree-boy’ (dressed to kill). |
2. one who prefers pursuing pleasure to working hard; thus spree-girl/-man/-master/-woman.
| These My People 32: The ‘spree bwoys’ at their eternal gambling. | |
| Children of the Rainbow 197: Mean, lousy dirty, impoverished Cloone! Burrow for wren-boys, spree-boys, rakes, rapsters, whipsters, mummers, flagwallopers and poachers! | |
| Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage 526/1: spree-boy/-girl/-man/-woman/-master [...] A person who is more inclined to dress up and have fun than to work; a thoroughgoing fun-seeker. |
(W.I.) a very well-dressed, stylish woman.
| cited in Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980). |