| Spahi | n. | French light cavalry formed primarily from natives from the Maghreb | ||
| spancel | n. | noosed rope used to hobble an animal | ||
| spandrel | n. | (architecture) space between arch and a rectangle enclosing that arch; space between extradoses of adjacent arches | ||
| spaniel | n. | fawning, submissive person | ||
| spark out | adj. | entirely unconscious | British | |
| sparrow-fart | n. | sunrise, dawn, very early in the day; useless person or thing | idiom | |
| spate | n. | flood, esp. sudden flooding of a river caused by heavy precipitation | British | |
| spathe | n. | large bract enclosing the flower bundle or spadix of some plants | ||
| spavined | adj. | afflicted with spavin, bony growth on lower hock joints of horses; lame, halt; decrepit | ||
| speak | v. | to communicate with at sea through semaphore or sound | nautical | |
| speccy | adj. | derogatory descriptor of one wearing glasses | slang | |
| specie | n. | coined money | ||
| specific | n. | particular remedy | ||
| spencer | n. | short tight jacket of 19th century, often trimmed with fur when worn by women and children | ||
| spicule | n. | tiny pointy thing, usu. in groups; huge gas jet shooting from surface of the sun | ||
| spikenard | n. | aromatic ointment derived from plant of the valerian family; such a plant | ||
| spile | n. | large wooden piling; wooden plug used as a spigot; to tap (a tree, a keg) by means of a spile | ||
| spillikins | n. | jackstraws, pick-up sticks | ||
| spindly | adj. | long and thin, esp. someone or something seeming weak or fragile | ||
| spinney | n. | small thicket | British | |
| spissitude | n. | density, thickness | ||
| spit | n. | measure based on length of a gardening spade | ||
| spital | n. | place for care of sick charity cases | ||
| splanchnomancy | n. | divination by examination of human entrails from victim sacrificed for that purpose | ||
| splash out | v. | to lavishly spend cash | British | |
| splenetic | adj. | bad-tempered, testy, peevish, irittable | ||
| splificate | v. | to annihilate, to obliterate, to destroy | slang | |
| sploot | v. | to lie flat upon the stomach with outstretched legs | ||
| spokeshave | n. | two-handled cutting implement with blade in the middle, used for shaping wheel spokes or other curved edges of wood | ||
| spondulics | n. | spending money (also spondulix or spondulicks) | slang | |
| spoony | adj. | silly, foolish (of persons); foolishly amorous | ||
| sprat | n. | small fish of the herring family; small thing of little consequence | ||
| sprezzatura | n. | studied nonchalance, art of making quite difficult work seem effortless | ||
| spring tide | n. | tide soon after a new or full moon; copious rush, swelling flow; springtime | ||
| springald | n. | 2 | young man, stripling | |
| springald | n. | 1 | medieval engine of warfare used for shooting large bolts | |
| sprog | n. | child; [RAF] young recruit | British | |
| spume | n. | froth, foam – esp. of the sea | ||
| squabash | v. | to crush, to squash | Scots | |
| squalid | adj. | foul, filthy; depraved | ||
| squamous | adj. | composed of scales, covered with scales, scaly | ||
| squassation | n. | variant of strappado in which heavy weights are bound to the victim’s ankles and instead of merely being lifted by the arms bound behind the back the victim is jerked up repeatedly | ||
| squelch | v. | to suppress, to put down; to make a sucking sound as of feet attempting to pull themselves from mud | ||
| squiffy | adj. | drunk, intoxicated | ||
| squill | n. | lily-like plant found in Europe; sea onion | ||
| squinch | n. | scuncheon; structure placed across corner of interior walls to hold up some superstructure | ||
| squirearchal | adj. | of or related to the country’s landed gentry as a collective body; of or related to rule by squires | ||
| squiz | n. | glance, look, gander | ||
| St. Martin’s summer | n. | unseasonable warm November weather | British | |
| stadial | adj. | of or related to geological ages; of or related to stages of society, civilization, etc. |
