SPRING

leap, leaping, spring, saltation, bound, bounce

(noun) a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards

spring

(noun) a metal elastic device that returns to its shape or position when pushed or pulled or pressed; “the spring was broken”

give, spring, springiness

(noun) the elasticity of something that can be stretched and returns to its original length

spring

(noun) a point at which water issues forth

spring, fountain, outflow, outpouring, natural spring

(noun) a natural flow of ground water

spring, springtime

(noun) the season of growth; “the emerging buds were a sure sign of spring”; “he will hold office until the spring of next year”

spring

(verb) develop suddenly; “The tire sprang a leak”

spring

(verb) produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly; “He sprang these news on me just as I was leaving”

bounce, resile, take a hop, spring, bound, rebound, recoil, reverberate, ricochet

(verb) spring back; spring away from an impact; “The rubber ball bounced”; “These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide”

jump, leap, bound, spring

(verb) move forward by leaps and bounds; “The horse bounded across the meadow”; “The child leapt across the puddle”; “Can you jump over the fence?”

form, take form, take shape, spring

(verb) develop into a distinctive entity; “our plans began to take shape”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springing, simple past sprung or sprang, past participle sprung)

(intransitive) To burst forth, particularly

(of liquids) To gush, to flow suddenly and violently.

(of water, now rare without "out" or "up") To gush, to flow out of the ground.

(of light) To appear, to dawn.

(of plants) To sprout, to grow, (figurative) to arise, to come into existence.

Synonyms: arise, form, take shape

(of fire) To fly up or out.

(of animals & figurative, now usually with adverbs of direction) To move with great speed and energy: to leap, to jump; to dart, to sprint; (of people) to rise rapidly from a seat, bed, etc.

Synonyms: bound, jump, leap

(hunting, especially, of birds) To rise from cover.

(of knowledge, usually with "wide", obsolete) To become known, to spread.

(of odors, obsolete) To emit, to spread.

(of landscape) To come dramatically into view.

(obsolete) To rise in social position or military rank, to be promoted.

(usually with "from") To be born, descend, or originate from; (figurative, religion, philosophy, etc.) to descend or originate from.

(now chiefly botanical) To grow taller or longer.

(transitive, of beards, archaic) To grow.

(transitive) To cause to burst forth, particularly

(of water, rare) To cause to well up or flow out of the ground.

(of plants & figurative, now rare) To bring forth or (obsolete) permit to bring forth new shoots, leaves, etc.

(of knowledge, obsolete) To cause to become known, to tell of.

(of animals & figurative) To cause to move energetically; (equestrianism) to cause to gallop, to spur.

(hunting, esp. of birds) To cause to rise from cover.

(military, of weapons, obsolete) To shift quickly from one designated position to another.

(of horses, rare, obsolete) To breed with, to impregnate.

(of mechanisms) To cause to work or open by sudden application of pressure.

(transitive, obsolete) To make wet, to moisten.

(intransitive, usually with "to" or "up") To rise suddenly, (of tears) to well up.

(intransitive, now usually with "apart" or "open") To burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter; (military, obsolete) to go off.

(transitive, military) To cause to explode, to set off, to detonate.

(intransitive, nautical, usually perfective) To crack.

(transitive, nautical) To have something crack.

(transitive, nautical) To cause to crack.

(transitive, originally figurative) To surprise by sudden or deft action, particularly

(obsolete) To begin something.

(obsolete) To produce, provide, or (rare) place an item unexpectedly.

(rare, obsolete, slang) To put bad money into circulation.

(of jokes, gags, etc., obsolete) To tell, to share.

(of news, surprises, etc.) To announce unexpectedly, to reveal.

(transitive, slang, originally US) To free from imprisonment, especially by facilitating an illegal escape.

Synonyms: free, let out, release, spring loose

(intransitive, slang, now rare) To be free of imprisonment, especially by illegal escape.

(transitive, architecture, of arches) To build, (especially) to form the initial curve of.

(intransitive, architecture, of arches, with "from") To extend, to curve.

(transitive, nautical) To turn a vessel using a spring attached to its anchor cable.

(transitive, nautical, obsolete) To raise a vessel's sheer.

(transitive, cobblery, rare, obsolete) To raise a last's toe.

(transitive) To pay or spend a certain sum, to cough up.

(intransitive, rare, obsolete, slang) To raise an offered price.

(transitive, US dialect) Alternative form of sprain.

(transitive, US dialect) Alternative form of strain.

(intransitive, rare, obsolete) To act as a spring: to strongly rebound.

(transitive, rare) To equip with springs, especially (of vehicles) to equip with a suspension.

(transitive, rare, obsolete) To provide spring or elasticity; (figurative, rare, obsolete) to inspire, to motivate.

(transitive) To deform owing to excessive pressure, to become warped; (now) to intentionally deform in order to position and then straighten in place.

(intransitive, now rare) To reach maturity, to be fully grown.

(intransitive, UK dialect, chiefly of cows) To swell with milk or pregnancy.

(transitive, of rattles, archaic) To sound, to play.

(intransitive, obsolete) To spend the springtime somewhere, especially (of animals) to find or get enough food during springtime.

Usage notes

• The past-tense forms sprang and sprung are both well attested historically. In modern usage, sprang is comparatively formal (and more often considered correct), sprung comparatively informal. The past participle, however, is overwhelmingly sprung; sprang as a past participle is attested, but is no longer in standard use.

Synonyms

• (come into being): see also come into being

Noun

spring (countable and uncountable, plural springs)

(countable) An act of springing: a leap, a jump.

(countable) The season of the year in temperate regions in which plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life, variously reckoned as

Synonym: springtime

Coordinate terms: summer, autumn or fall, winter

(astronomy) The 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.

(meteorology) The three months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere.

(uncountable, figurative) The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.

(countable, fashion) Someone with ivory or peach skin tone and eyes and hair that are not extremely dark, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.

(countable) Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly

(geology) A spray or body of water springing from the ground.

Synonyms: fount, source

(oceanography, obsolete) The rising of the sea at high tide.

(oceanography) Short for spring tide, the especially high tide shortly after full and new moons.

Antonym: neap tide

A mechanical device made of flexible or coiled material that exerts force and attempts to spring back when bent, compressed, or stretched.

Synonym: coil

(nautical) A line from a vessel's end or side to its anchor cable used to diminish or control its movement.

(nautical) A line laid out from a vessel's end to the opposite end of an adjacent vessel or mooring to diminish or control its movement.

(figurative) A race, a lineage.

(figurative) A youth.

A shoot, a young tree.

A grove of trees; a forest.

(countable, slang) An erection of the penis.

(countable, nautical, obsolete) A crack which has sprung up in a mast, spar, or (rare) a plank or seam.

(uncountable) Springiness: an attribute or quality of springing, springing up, or springing back, particularly

Elasticity: the property of a body springing back to its original form after compression, stretching, etc.

Synonyms: bounce, bounciness, elasticity, resilience, springiness

Elastic energy, power, or force.

(countable) The source from which an action or supply of something springs.

Synonyms: impetus, impulse

(countable) Something which causes others or another to spring forth or spring into action, particularly

A cause, a motive, etc.

(obsolete) A lively piece of music.

Usage notes

Note that season names are not capitalized in modern English unless at the beginning of a sentence, for example, I can't wait for spring to arrive. Exceptions occur when the season is personified, as in Old Man Winter, is used as part of a name, as in the Winter War, or is used as a given name, as in Summer Glau. This is in contrast to the days of the week and months of the year, which are always capitalized (Thursday or September).

Synonyms

• (time of growth, early stages): See beginning

Proper noun

Spring

A surname.

Spring, the season of warmth and new vegetation following winter

Usage notes

• The season is now more frequently written with a lower-case initial letter: "spring".

Source: Wiktionary

Spring, v. i. [imp. Sprang or Sprung (; p. p. Sprung; p. pr. & vb. n. Springing.] Etym: [AS. springan; akin to D. & G. springen, OS. & OHG. springan, Icel. & Sw. springa, Dan. springe; cf. Gr. Springe, Sprinkle.]

1. To leap; to bound; to jump. The mountain stag that springs From height to height, and bounds along the plains. Philips.

2. To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot. And sudden light Sprung through the vaulted roof. Dryden.

3. To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert. Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring. Otway.

4. To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.

5. To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped; as, a piece of timber, or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning.

6. To shoot up, out, or forth; to come to the light; to begin to appear; to emerge; as a plant from its seed, as streams from their source, and the like; -often followed by up, forth, or out. Till well nigh the day began to spring. Chaucer. To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. Job xxxviii. 27. Do not blast my springing hopes. Rowe. O, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born. Pope.

7. To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle. [They found] new hope to spring Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked. Milton.

8. To grow; to prosper. What makes all this, but Jupiter the king, At whose command we perish, and we spring Dryden. To spring at, to leap toward; to attempt to reach by a leap.

– To spring forth, to leap out; to rush out.

– To spring in, to rush in; to enter with a leap or in haste.

– To spring on or upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault.

Spring, v. t.

1. To cause to spring up; to start or rouse, as game; to cause to rise from the earth, or from a covert; as, to spring a pheasant.

2. To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly. She starts, and leaves her bed, amd springs a light. Dryden. The friends to the cause sprang a new project. Swift.

3. To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine.

4. To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard.

5. To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap.

6. To bend by force, as something stiff or strong; to force or put by bending, as a beam into its sockets, and allowing it to straighten when in place; -- often with in, out, etc.; as, to spring in a slat or a bar.

7. To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence. To spring a butt (Naut.), to loosen the end of a plank in a ship's bottom.

– To spring a leak (Naut.), to begin to leak.

– To spring an arch (Arch.), to build an arch; -- a common term among masons; as, to spring an arcg over a lintel.

– To spring a rattle, to cause a rattle to sound. See Watchman's rattle, under Watchman.

– To spring the luff (Naut.), to ease the helm, and sail nearer to the wind than before; -- said of a vessel. Mar. Dict.

– To spring a mast or spar (Naut.), to strain it so that it is unserviceable.

Spring, n. Etym: [AS. spring a fountain, a leap. See Spring, v. i.]

1. A leap; a bound; a jump. The prisoner, with a spring, from prison broke. Dryden.

2. A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by elasticity; as, the spring of a bow.

3. Elastic power or force. Heavens! what a spring was in his arm! Dryden.

4. An elastic body of any kind, as steel, India rubber, tough wood, or compressed air, used for various mechanical purposes, as receiving and imparting power, diminishing concussion, regulating motion, measuring weight or other force.

Note: The principal varieties of springs used in mechanisms are the spiral spring (Fig. a), the coil spring (Fig. b), the elliptic spring (Fig. c), the half-elliptic spring (Fig. d), the volute spring, the India-rubber spring, the atmospheric spring, etc.

5. Any source of supply; especially, the source from which a stream proceeds; as issue of water from the earth; a natural fountain. "All my springs are in thee." Ps. lxxxvii. 7. "A secret spring of spiritual joy." Bentley. "The sacred spring whence and honor streams." red rose of the House of Lancaster. Sir J. Davies.

6. Any active power; that by which action, or motion, is produced or propagated; cause; origin; motive. Our author shuns by vulgar springs to move The hero's glory, or the virgin's love. Pope.

7. That which springs, or is originated, from a source; as: (a) A race; lineage. [Obs.] Chapman. (b) A youth; a springal. [Obs.] Spenser. (c) A shoot; a plant; a young tree; also, a grove of trees; woodland. [Obs.] Spenser. Milton.

8. That which causes one to spring; specifically, a lively tune. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

9. The season of the year when plants begin to vegetate and grow; the vernal season, usually comprehending the months of March, April, and May, in the middle latitudes north of the equator. "The green lap of the new-come spring." Shak.

Note: Spring of the astronomical year begins with the vernal equinox, about March 21st, and ends with the summer solstice, about June 21st.

10. The time of growth and progress; early portion; first stage. "The spring of the day." 1 Sam. ix. 26. O how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day. Shak.

11. (Naut.) (a) A crack or fissure in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely. (b) A line led from a vessel's quarter to her cable so that by tightening or slacking it she can be made to lie in any desired position; a line led diagonally from the bow or stern of a vessel to some point upon the wharf to which she is moored. Air spring, Boiling spring, etc. See under Air, Boiling, etc.

– Spring back (Bookbinding), a back with a curved piece of thin sheet iron or of stiff pasteboard fastened to the inside, the effect of which is to make the leaves of a book thus bound (as a ledger or other account or blank book) spring up and lie flat.

– Spring balance, a contrivance for measuring weight or force by the elasticity of a spiral spring of steel.

– Spring beam, a beam that supports the side of a paddle box. See Paddle beam, under Paddle, n.

– Spring beauty. (a) (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Claytonia, delicate herbs with somewhat fleshy leaves and pretty blossoms, appearing in springtime. (b) (Zoöl.) A small, elegant American butterfly (Erora læta) which appears in spring. The hind wings of the male are brown, bordered with deep blue; those of the female are mostly blue.

– Spring bed, a mattress, under bed, or bed bottom, in which springs, as of metal, are employed to give the required elasticity.

– Spring beetle (Zoöl.), a snapping beetle; an elater.

– Spring box, the box or barrel in a watch, or other piece of mechanism, in which the spring is contained.

– Spring fly (Zoöl.), a caddice fly; -- so called because it appears in the spring.

– Spring grass (Bot.), a vernal grass. See under Vernal.

– Spring gun, a firearm disharged by a spring, when this is trodden upon or is otherwise moved.

– Spring hook (Locomotive Engines), one of the hooks which fix the driving-wheel spring to the frame.

– Spring latch, a latch that fastens with a spring.

– Spring lock, a lock that fastens with a spring.

– Spring mattress, a spring bed.

– Spring of an arch (Arch.) See Springing line of an arch, under Springing.

– Spring of pork, the lower part of a fore quarter, which is divided from the neck, and has the leg and foot without the shoulder. [Obs.] Nares. Sir, pray hand the spring of pork to me. Gayton.

– Spring pin (Locomotive Engines), an iron rod fitted between the springs and the axle boxes, to sustain and regulate the pressure on the axles.

– Spring rye, a kind of rye sown in the spring; -- in distinction from winter rye, sown in autumn.

– Spring stay (Naut.), a preventer stay, to assist the regular one. R. H. Dana, Jr.

– Spring tide, the tide which happens at, or soon after, the new and the full moon, and which rises higher than common tides. See Tide.

– Spring wagon, a wagon in which springs are interposed between the body and the axles to form elastic supports.

– Spring wheat, any kind of wheat sown in the spring; -- in distinction from winter wheat, which is sown in autumn.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

SPRING

Etymology

Verb

Usage notes

Synonyms

Noun

Usage notes

Synonyms

Proper noun

Usage notes

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