spring

present singular third person springs · participle present springing · past sprang · past sprung · participle past sprung · first person past singular sprang · first person nonstandard past singular sprung · past second person singular sprang · nonstandard past second person singular sprung · present singular third person springs · past singular third person sprang · nonstandard past singular third person sprung · past plural sprang · nonstandard past plural sprung · past subjunctive sprang · nonstandard past subjunctive sprung

1. intransitiveTo move or burst forth.

   The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.

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   ...þe wound þat was springand with huge stremes of blude...

   c. 1540, Livy, translated by John Bellenden, History of Rome, Vol. I, i, xxii, p. 125

   1. intransitiveTo appear.

      Home I would go, But that my Dores are hatefull to my eyes. Fill'd and damm'd up with gaping Creditors, Watchfull as Fowlers when their Game will ſpring; […]

      1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4

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      ...so the man tooke his concubine, and brought her foorth vnto them, and they knew her, and abused her all the night vntil the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her goe.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 19:25

   2. intransitiveTo grow, to sprout.

      Foxglove sprang tall and purple among the trees.

      2006, N. Roberts, Morrigann's Cross, section VI

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      Who hath diuided a water-course for the ouerflowing of waters? or a way for the lightning of thunder, To cause it to raine on the earth, where no man is: on the wildernesse wherein there is no man? To satisfie the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herbe to spring forth.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 38:25–27

      Commerce! beneath whose poison-breathing shade No solitary virtue dares to spring, […]

      1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Canto V”, in Queen Mab; […], London: […] P. B. Shelley, […], →OCLC, page 61

      Dr. Sigmund Freud... says that everything you and I do springs from two motives: the sex urge and the desire to be great.

      1936, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 42

      There was moisture in the ground, and from it sprang a million flowers, gold and blue and brown and red.

      1974, James Albert Michener, Centennial, page 338

   3. UKdialectalintransitiveTo mature.
   4. figurativelyintransitiveTo arise, to come into existence.

      Synonyms: arise, form, take shape

   5. figurativelyintransitivesometimesTo enliven.

      He hit the gas and the car sprang to life.

   6. figurativelyintransitiveusuallyTo move with great speed and energy.

      Deer spring with their hind legs, using their front hooves to steady themselves.

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      ...into helle spring...

      c. 1250, Life of St Margaret, Trin. Col. MS B.14.39 (323), f. 22v

      Ye kynge... sprange out of his chare and resseyuyd them worshipfully.

      1474, William Caxton, transl., Game and Playe of the Chesse, iii, vii, 141

      ...the Mountain Stag, that springs From Height to Height, and bounds along the Plains, Nor has a Master to restrain his Course...

      1722, Ambrose Philips, The Briton

      ...out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

      1827, Clement Clarke Moore, (A Visit from St. Nicholas)

      However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.

      1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

      Synonyms: bound, jump, leap

   7. intransitiveusuallyTo be born, descend, or originate from

      He sprang from peasant stock.

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      From this basis, a first-order difference equation for the evolution of capital per worker is found, and the time path of the economy springs from this equation.

      2008, George McCandless, The ABCs of RBCs, Harvard University Press, page 7

   8. intransitiveobsoleteTo rise in social position or military rank, to be promoted.
2. transitiveTo cause to spring (all senses).
   1. transitiveTo cause to work or open by sudden application of pressure.

      He sprang the trap.

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      They sprung another Mine... wherein was placed about sixtie Barrels of Powder.

      1625, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes, Vol. II, x, ix

      On the 23d, the Besiegers sprung a Mine under the Salient Angle, upon the Right of the Haif Moon, which had the desired Success, the Enemy's Gallery on that Side, and the Mason-Work of the Counterscarp, being thereby demolished.

      1747, The London Magazine, Or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer

3. transitiveTo leap over.

   I sprang the fence, and was soon in the village street.

   1876, Matilda Leathes, Our village worthies; or, Stories of village life, page 112

4. obsoleteTo breed with, to impregnate.

   ...[they] sought the fairest stoned horses to spring their mares...

   1585, Nicolas De Nicolay, translated by Thomas Washington, The Navigations, Peregrinations, and Voyages, Made into Turkie..., Bk. IV, p. 154

5. obsoletetransitiveTo wet, to moisten.
6. intransitiveusuallyTo burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter.

   On the 22nd the mines sprang, and took very good effect.

   1698, François Froger, A Relation of a Voyage Made... on the Coasts of Africa, page 30

7. obsoletegovernmentTo go off.

   The whole contraption appears liable to spring apart at any moment.

   2012 April 21, Sydney Morning Herald, page 5

8. ambitransitiveperfectiveusuallynauticalTo crack.

   The Edward sprang hir foremast.

   1582 August 2, Richard Madox, diary

9. To come upon and flush out.

   For generations of men the springer spaniel has been looked upon as the dog for springing pheasants in covert and finding and retrieving dead birds or winged runners when ordered to do so. The properly broken dog will not chase, but drop to wing and shot.

   1921, Field and Stream, page 832

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   […] by the beginning of this century a still smaller breed, with a weight of 4 of 5 pounds and a chest measurement of around 12 inches, had come into being for springing rabbits. Such, then, is a rough, quick ancestral picture of our modern Dachshund, and[…]

   1940, Allen A. Day, “Dachsunds for Woodchucks”, in Dwight Williams Huntington, editor, The Game Breeder and Sportsman, page 94

   I winter, ruffed grouse sometimes roost at night on the ground under the insulating snow. Even during the midday hours, I have often flushed grouse out from under the snow-bowed branches of "buck-brush," the type of environment where a hunter would more likely expect to spring a rabbit or two.

   2003 August 1, Dennis Walrod, Grouse Hunter's Guide: Solid Facts, Insights, and Observations on How to Hunt Ruffled Grouse, Stackpole Books, →ISBN

10. AustraliaslangTo catch in an illegal act or compromising position.

    He figured that nobody would ever spring him, but he figured wrong.

    1980, John Hepworth et al., Boozing Out in Melbourne Pubs..., page 42

11. obsoleteTo begin.
12. obsoleteslangTo put bad money into circulation.
13. To tell, to share.

    Sorry to spring it on you like this but I've been offered another job.

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    North Korea loves to spring surprises. More unusual is for its US foe to play along.

    2012 February 29, Aidan Foster-Carter, “North Korea: The Denuclearisation Dance Resumes”, in BBC News

14. USslangtransitiveTo free from imprisonment, especially by facilitating an illegal escape.

    His lieutenants hired a team of miners to help spring him.

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    If I was in jail I know you'd spring me

    2007, Mike Batt, “If You Were a Sailboat”, performed by Katie Melua

    Synonyms: free, let out, release, spring loose, jailbreak

15. intransitiverareslangTo be free of imprisonment, especially by illegal escape.
16. To secure a person's release from custody; to free or bail out of jail.

    The Big Man, of course, had had an alibi as solid as Fort Knox. He had been held and questioned, but was quickly sprung by the best lawyer in Harlem.

    1954, Ian Fleming, “A Visiting-Card”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 22

17. transitivearchitectureTo build, to form the initial curve of.

    They sprung an arch over the lintel.

18. intransitivearchitectureTo extend, to curve.

    The arches spring from the front posts.

19. transitivenauticalTo turn a vessel using a spring attached to its anchor cable.
20. transitiveTo pay or spend a certain sum, to yield.

    He wouldn't spring a nickel for a bag of peanuts.

    1957, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Over Seventy, page 137

21. intransitiveobsoleteslangTo raise an offered price.
22. USalternativedialectaltransitiveAlternative form of sprain.
23. USalternativedialectaltransitiveAlternative form of strain.
24. intransitiveobsoleteTo act as a spring: to strongly rebound.
25. raretransitiveTo equip with springs, especially (of vehicles) to equip with a suspension.
26. figurativelyobsoleterareto inspire, to motivate.
27. ambitransitiveTo deform owing to excessive pressure, to become warped; to intentionally deform in order to position and then straighten in place.

    He sprang in the slat.

    2 more examples

    Don't drive it in too hard, as it will ‘spring’ the plane-iron, and make it concave.

    1873 July, Routledge's Young Gentleman's Magazine, page 503

    A piece of timber sometimes springs in seasoning.

28. UKdialectalintransitiveTo swell with milk or pregnancy.

    “Gee, Dad, Nancy’s springing all right,” Ray said and paused in spontaneous pleasure. Stan Parker came, and together they looked at their swelling heifer.

    1955, Patrick White, chapter 15, in The Tree of Man, New York: Viking, page 228

29. archaictransitiveTo sound, to play.

    I do not know how John and his mistress would have settled the fate of the thief, but just at this moment a policeman entered — for the cook had sprung the rattle, and had been screaming "Murder" and "Thieves."

    1850, Samuel Prout Newcombe, Pleasant pages, page 197

30. To find or get enough food during springtime.

plural springs

1. countableAn act of springing: a leap, a jump.

   The pris'ner with a spring from prison broke; Then stretch'd his feather'd fans with all his might, And to the neighb'ring maple wing'd his flight.

   1700, John Dryden, The Cock and the Fox

2. countableuncountableThe season of the year in temperate regions in which temperatures and daylight hours rise, and plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life.

   Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.

   4 more examples

   You can visit me in the spring, when the weather is bearable.

   No joy the blowing season gives, ⁠The herald melodies of spring, ⁠But in the songs I love to sing A doubtful gleam of solace lives.

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXVIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 59

   Into the sea, you and me / All these years and no one heard / I'll show you in spring, it's a treacherous thing

   1983, Robert Smith, “The Lovecats”, performed by The Cure

   Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.

   2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 172

   Synonyms: springtime

   1. countableuncountableastronomyThe period from the moment of vernal equinox (around March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere) to the moment of the summer solstice (around June 21); the equivalent periods reckoned in other cultures and calendars.

      Chinese New Year always occurs in January or February but is called the "Spring Festival" throughout East Asia because it is reckoned as the beginning of their spring.

      Synonyms: springtime

   2. countableuncountableclimatologyThe three months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere.

      I spent my spring holidays in Morocco.

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      The spring issue will be out next week.

      Synonyms: springtime

3. figurativelyuncountableThe time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.

   O how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day.

   c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

   1 more example

   ...and it came to passe about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house...

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 9:26

   1. countablefigurativelyuncountablegovernmentA period of political liberalization and democratization.

      Arab Spring

      2 more examples

      Prague Spring

      Solidarity grew from the Lenin Shipyard here and threatened a Polish spring before martial law was imposed in 1981.

      1989 May, Priit J. Vesilind, “The Baltic: Arena of Power”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 627

4. countablefashionSomeone with ivory or peach skin tone and eyes and hair that are not extremely dark, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
5. Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly
   1. countableuncountablegeographyA spray or body of water springing from the ground.

      This beer was brewed with pure spring water.

      Synonyms: fount, source

   2. countableobsoleteuncountablegeographyThe rising of the sea at high tide.
   3. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountablegeographyEllipsis of spring tide, the especially high tide shortly after full and new moons.

      Antonyms: neap tide

   4. countableuncountableAn elastic mechanical part or device in any shape (e.g., flat, curved, coiled), made of flexible material (usually spring steel) that exerts force and attempts to spring back when bent, compressed, or stretched.

      We jumped so hard the bed springs broke.

   5. countableuncountablenauticalA line from a vessel's end or side to its anchor cable used to diminish or control its movement.

      He had warped round with the springs on his cable, and had recommenced his fire upon the Aurora.

      1836, Frederick Marryat, Mr. Midshipman Easy, volume III, page 72

   6. countableuncountablenauticalA line laid out from a vessel's end to the opposite end of an adjacent vessel or mooring to diminish or control its movement.

      You should put a couple of springs onto the jetty to stop the boat moving so much.

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      Spring is likewise a rope reaching diagonally from the stern of a ship to the head of another which lies along-side or a-breast of her.

      1769, William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, s.v

      ‘Springs’ are the ropes used on a ship that is alongside a berth to prevent fore and aft movements.

      2007 January 26, Business Times

   7. countablefigurativelyuncountableA race, a lineage.
   8. countablefigurativelyuncountableA youth.
   9. countableuncountableA shoot, a young tree.
   10. countableuncountableA grove of trees; a forest.
   11. collectivecountableuncountableA group of teal.

       Of all the prizes with which a wild-fowl shooter could wish to meet, a spring of Teal is amongst the first.

       1870 February 1, “The Teal”, in John Eller Taylor, Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, editor, Hardwicke's Science-gossip, Robert Hardwicke, page 35

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       It is sometimes the practice of the fowler to delay his performances a few days when there are only a small spring of teal; this delay frequently proves highly judicious, for when undisturbed they assemble at decoys in great numbers.

       2013, H. Folkard, The Wildfowler - A Treatise on Fowling, Ancient and Modern, Read Books Limited

       A peep over the bank, and a "spring" of teal are up, but only to divide into two, and I mark down the larger one into open water some hundred and fifty yards off.

       1894, “Humber Shore-Shooting”, in Baily's Magazine of Sports Pastimes, volume 64, page 289

6. countableslangAn erection of the penis.
7. countableobsoletenauticalA crack which has sprung up in a mast, spar, or (rare) a plank or seam.

   A spar is said to be sprung, when it is cracked or split,... and the crack is called a spring.

   1846, Arthur Young, Nautical Dictionary, page 292

8. Springiness: an attribute or quality of springing, springing up, or springing back, particularly
   1. countableuncountableElasticity: the property of a body springing back to its original form after compression, stretching, etc.

      the spring of a bow

      Synonyms: bounce, bounciness, elasticity, resilience, springiness

   2. countableuncountableElastic energy, power, or force.

      Heav'ns what a spring was in his Arm, to throw: How high he held his Shield, and rose at ev'ry blow!

      1697, John Dryden, Virgil's Aeneis, Bk. xi, ll. 437–8

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      Mrs Durbeyfield, excited by her song, trod the rocker with all the spring that was left in her after a long day's seething in the suds.

      1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 30

9. countableThe source from which an action or supply of something springs.

   As wel the singers as the players on instruments shall bee there: all my springs are in thee.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 87:7

   3 more examples

   Such a man can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth him, he can patiently suffer all things with cheerfull submission and resignation to the Divine Will. He has a secret Spring of spiritual Joy, and the continual Feast of a good Conscience within, that forbid him to be miserable.

   1693, The Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism..., Richard Bentley, Sermon 1

   […] discover, at least in some degree, the secret springs and principles, by which the human mind is actuated in its operations?

   1748, David Hume, Enquiries Concerning the Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, §9

   ‘Have you ever contemplated, Adrian, the phenomenon of springs?’ ‘Coils, you mean?’ ‘Not coils, Adrian, no. Coils not. Think springs of water. Think wells and spas and sources. Well-springs in the widest and loveliest sense. Jerusalem, for instance, is a spring of religiosity. One small town in the desert, but the source of the world’s three most powerful faiths. […] Religion seems to bubble from its sands.’

   1991 September, Stephen Fry, “[Prelude to chapter 1]”, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section, page 1

   Synonyms: impetus, impulse

10. Something which causes others or another to spring forth or spring into action, particularly
    1. countableuncountableA cause, a motive, etc.

       Our Author ſhuns by vulgar Springs to move / The Hero's Glory, or the Virgin's Love; […]

       1712 (date written), [Alexander] Pope, “Prologue, by Mr. Pope. Spoken by Mr. [Robert] Wilks.”, in [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC

    2. countableobsoleteuncountableentertainmentA lively piece of music.

       The firstand spring the fiddle did play Hey wi the gay and the grinding Said, "Ye'll drown my sister, as she's dune me." At the bony bony bows of London

       (Can we date this quote?), stanza 18, in The Bonny Bows o London (as collected by Buchan in 'Ancient ballads and songs of the north of Scotland')

present singular third person springs · participle present springing · participle past springed · past springed

1. intransitiveTo spend the springtime somewhere.

   She springed in London, summered in Stockholm, autumned at Vichy, and wintered at Monte Carlo.

   1950, Chambers’s Journal, page 269

   5 more examples

   True it is that, owing to the migratory propensities of our countrymen, every third man has wintered at Naples, springed at Vienna, summered in Switzerland, and autumned on the banks of the Lago Maggiore;

   1835 May, “Northern Germany. A Sketch.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XI, number LXV, page 507

   If Tad’s father and Tad had wintered, springed, summered, and autumned together for an hundred years instead of fifteen they could[…]

   1912, William C[yrus] Sprague, Tad, the Story of a Boy who Had No Chance, page 2

   They wintered in a warm place And summered in a cold, But where they springed and autumned I never have been told.

   1937, Mortimer Jones, “Lines of No Importance”, in The Alphi Phi Quarterly, page 29

   In recent years his friend the fourth-quarter king summered, autumned, and springed in nearby Southern California, which was how they stayed so easily in touch.

   2006, Tim Pratt, “The Third-Quarter King”, in Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G Byrne, editors, Eidolon I, →ISBN, page 2

   Larry and Bill had planned to hold a white-linen “fancy” fund-raiser dinner in late June or early July, which would bring out the moneyed crowd who “summered” on the Island. If you summer or winter somewhere you are affluent, Larry knew. (Funny, though, he had never heard of anyone who “autumned” in Vermont or who was “springing” in Colorado.)

   2010, Larry Stettner, Bill Morrison, Cooking for the Common Good: The Birth of a Natural Foods Soup Kitchen, Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 84

plural Springs

1. countableA surname.
2. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Harris County, Texas, United States.
3. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative form of spring, the season of warmth and new vegetation following winter.

   [T]he Regent’s park was full of winter chirruppings and sweet with Spring odours.

   1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 131

   1 more example

   There the roſy-finger'd Spring, by the liquid mirror of a cryſtalline pool, was attiring her fair daughters in ſeven-fold ornaments, while the love-whiſpering breezes ſtole kiſſes as they paſſed, and fanned their glowing beauties.

   1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iii