(It.).
In modern string playing, a short, off-the-string bow stroke. The term is sometimes synonymous with the bouncing stroke Sautillé. Before 1750, however, ‘spiccato’ and ‘staccato’ were regarded as equivalent terms (in, for example, Brossard's Dictionaire, 1703, and Corrette's L'École d'Orphée, 1738) meaning simply detached or separated as opposed to legato.
See Bow, §II, 2(vii) and 3(viii).
DAVID D. BOYDEN/PETER WALLS