springy

comparative springier · superlative springiest

1. That returns rapidly to its original form (as a spring does) after being bent, compressed, stretched, etc.

   The soft peat was springy under her feet.

   3 more examples

   The hard woods were used for pegging, the soft woods for cradling the load and the springy woods for carrying it.

   2013, Eric Sloane, Weather Almanac, →ISBN, page 48

   What returning director Genndy Tartakovsky reveres is animation—and not necessarily the wonders of photorealistic follicle creation or impeccably rendered water, but the kind of gloriously exaggerated movement, the stretchy and springy caricature, that enlivens many classic cartoons.

   , Jesse Hassenger, “Improbably but amusingly, Hotel Transylvania 3 notches a series best”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2018

   We had now reach'd the closest point of union; but when he backened to come on the fiercer, as if I had been actuated by a fear of losing him, in the height of my fury I twisted my legs round his naked loins, the flesh of which, so firm, so springy to the touch, quiver'd again under the pressure

   Fanny Hill

   1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: bouncy, elastic, resilient

2. Lively; bouncy.

   Every step—a light click of the heel and then a springy step, optimistic, perhaps a bit contemptuous.

   2005, Adam Zachary Newton, The Elsewhere: On Belonging at a Near Distance, →ISBN, page 270

   1 more example

   Shangrila and Linda is an outstandingly uneven book -- sometimes it's fun and springy, and other times it's irritating and boring.

   1982 April 10, Andrea Loewenstein, “Daily Life”, in Gay Community News, page 11

   Synonyms: bouncy, jaunty, energetic, vigorous

3. Characteristic of the spring season.

   After our few brief days of springy weather it surely is a sudden change.

   2015, Marian Baldwin, Canteening Overseas 1917-1919

   2 more examples

   It was springy weather after Easter, and she wore a pale lavender silk dress with myriad little ruchings down the front, each edged with a narrow band of real lace.

   1947, Gulielma Fell Alsop, Deer Creek: The Story of a Golden Childhood, page 276

   We had a blizzard, a thaw, a spell of springy weather, and James baked me a heart-shaped white clam pizza for Valentine's Day.

   2014, Kitty Burns Florey, Vigil for a Stranger, →ISBN

   Synonyms: springlike, mild

4. Of land, having many springs (of water).