Spurted

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have flowed or shot out quickly and with strength in a short burst
2. Describes a rapid and forceful emission, often a liquid or energy, happening suddenly
3. To suddenly release or eject a substance or energy in a brief and vigorous manner

Etymology: "Spurted" is the past tense of "spurt," and the verb once meant something quite different from a jet of liquid. Its older form, "spirt" or "sprit," meant "to sprout," the way a seed sends up a shoot. That sense links it to the Old English "spryttan," which carried the same idea of springing up, and behind that lies a Proto-West Germanic root "*spruttjan" that traces back to a very ancient word for scattering or sowing. The sense of sudden, forceful gushing appears to have developed from this idea of something bursting forth. A plant pushing out through soil is a kind of sudden emergence, and over time the sense shifted from growth to the rapid outflow of liquid, so that a spurt of water or blood came to describe a forceful, brief emission rather than a gradual rise.

Synonyms: gushed, burst, flowed, spilled, poured

Antonyms: dripped, leaked, trickled, stopped, cessation