spang (plural spangs)

1. (obsolete) A shiny ornament or object; a spangle

   • With glittering spangs that did like stars appear.

spang (spangs, present participle spanging; past and past participle spanged)

1. To set with bright points: star or spangle.
2. To hitch; fasten.

spang (spangs, present participle spanging; past and past participle spanged)

1. (intransitive, of a flying object such as a bullet) To strike or ricochet with a loud report
   • 1895 October 1, Stephen Crane, chapter 18, in The Red Badge of Courage, 1st US edition, New York: D. Appleton and Company, [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Red_Badge_of_Courage_(1895)/Chapter_18#173 page 173]:

     Occasional bullets buzzed in the air and spanged into tree trunks.

   • 1918, Zane Grey, The U.P. Trail

     How clear, sweet, spanging the hammer blows!

spang (not comparable)

1. (dated) Suddenly; slap, smack.
   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber 2007, p. 22:

     And I didn't stop until I found myself spang in the middle of the Musée de Cluny, clutching the rack.

spang (spangs, present participle spanging; past and past participle spanged)

1. (intransitive, dialect, UK, Scotland) To leap; spring.

   • But when they spang o'er reason's fence, / We smart for't at our own expense.

2. (transitive, dialect, UK, Scotland) To cause to spring; set forcibly in motion; throw with violence.

spang (plural spangs)

1. (Scotland) A bound or spring; a leap.

spang (plural spangs)

1. (Scotland) A span.

1. Surname