Sprite

//spɹaɪt// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A colourless, caffeine-free, lemon and lime-flavoured soft drink.
Noun
  1. 1
    Any of various supernatural beings, loosely defined:; A spirit; a soul; a shade.

    "He who torments the chafer's sprite Weaves a bower in endless night."

  2. 2
    a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers wordnet
  3. 3
    Any of various supernatural beings, loosely defined:; An apparition; a ghost.
  4. 4
    Any of various supernatural beings, loosely defined:; An elf, fairy, or goblin; one with a small humanlike physical body.
  5. 5
    A two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene.
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    A large electrical discharge that occurs high above the cumulonimbus cloud of an active thunderstorm, which appears as a luminous red or orange flash.
  2. 7
    The green woodpecker, or yaffle (Picus viridis).
  3. 8
    Any of various African damselflies of the genus Pseudagrion (of which, Australian species are named riverdamsels).
  4. 9
    A spayed female ferret.
  5. 10
    Alternative form of spright (“frame of mind, disposition”). alt-of, alternative, obsolete
Verb
  1. 1
    To draw a (specifically) pixel art sprite. informal

    "sprited the new NPCs"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English sprite, spryt, spreyte, from Old French esprit (“spirit”), from Latin spīritus. Doublet of spirit, spiritus, spirytus, spright, and esprit. (computer graphics): First used by Danny Hillis at Texas Instruments in the late 1970s. (meteorology): An acronym for Stratospheric Perturbations Resulting from Intense Thunderstorm Electrification.

Etymology 2

From Middle English sprite, spryt, spreyte, from Old French esprit (“spirit”), from Latin spīritus. Doublet of spirit, spiritus, spirytus, spright, and esprit. (computer graphics): First used by Danny Hillis at Texas Instruments in the late 1970s. (meteorology): An acronym for Stratospheric Perturbations Resulting from Intense Thunderstorm Electrification.

Etymology 3

In the early 1940s, Coca-Cola started running an advertising campaign featuring an elf-like figure called “Sprite Boy” (see sprite (“elf”)). The name originated from the previous Coca-Cola campaign, but it was a focus group that ultimately chose the name “Sprite”.

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