sprite

[sprahyt] /spraɪt/
noun
1.
Also, spright. an elf, fairy, or goblin.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English sprit < Old French esprit < Latin spīritus spirit
Related forms
spritehood, noun
spriteless, adjective
spritelike, adjective
Can be confused
spirit, sprite.
Synonyms
See fairy.
Examples from the web for sprite
  • It's really an atmospheric phenomenon called a sprite.
  • It's easy to see how that little wood sprite went on to study ecology and fashioned himself into an environmental shock trooper.
  • Her quick changes of mood indicated that the sprite was infinitely capricious.
  • Unfortunately, when the sprite tries to reattach the gangster's severed pinky, he puts the thing on backwards.
British Dictionary definitions for sprite

sprite

/spraɪt/
noun
1.
(in folklore) a nimble elflike creature, esp one associated with water
2.
a small dainty person
3.
an icon in a computer game which can be manoeuvred around the screen by means of a joystick, etc
Word Origin
C13: from Old French esprit, from Latin spīritusspirit1
Word Origin and History for sprite
n.

c.1300, from Old French esprit "spirit," from Latin spiritus (see spirit (n.)).

sprite in Technology

operating system
An operating system from Berkeley supporting multiprocessing and distributed files.
[Details? References?]
(1994-10-17)

graphics, file format
A small bitmap image, often used in animated games but also sometimes used as a synonym for icon.
(1997-06-29)