• Spring

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: sprÄ­ng, IPA: /spɹɪŋ/
    • US enPR: sprÄ“ng, IPA: /spɹiːŋ/
    • Rhymes: -ɪŋ

    Origin

    From Middle English springen, from Old English springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (compare West Frisian springe, Dutch/Low German/German springen, Danish springe, Swedish springa), from Proto-Indo-European *sperǵʰ- (compare Lithuanian spreñgti ("to push in"), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти ("to spin, stretch"), Ancient Greek σπέρχω ("I hasten"), Sanskrit स्पृहयति (spṛhayati, "is eager")).

    Sense of ‘season’ 1547, from earlier springing time, spring-time, in sense of buds sprouting or “springing” up. This replaced Old English lencten (compare Lent) by the 14th century.

    Online Etymology Dictionary

    Sense of ‘source of water’ attested circa 1225.

    Full definition of spring

    Verb

    1. To jump or leap.
      • PhilipsThe mountain stag that springs
        From height to height, and bounds along the plains.
      • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of OzShe was awakened by a shock, so sudden and severe that if Dorothy had not been lying on the soft bed she might have been hurt. As it was, the jar made her catch her breath and wonder what had happened; and Toto put his cold little nose into her face and whined dismally. Dorothy sat up and noticed that the house was not moving; nor was it dark, for the bright sunshine came in at the window, flooding the little room. She sprang from her bed and with Toto at her heels ran and opened the door.
      • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5Not thirty paces behind the two she crouched—Sabor, the huge lioness—lashing her tail. Cautiously she moved a great padded paw forward, noiselessly placing it before she lifted the next. Thus she advanced; her belly low, almost touching the surface of the ground — a great cat preparing to spring upon its prey.
      • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 2Archer and Jacob jumped up from behind the mound where they had been crouching with the intention of springing upon their mother unexpectedly, and they all began to walk slowly home.
    2. He sprang up from his seat.
    3. To pass over by leaping.to spring over a fence (in this sense, the verb spring must be accompanied by the preposition 'over'.)
    4. To produce or disclose unexpectedly, especially of surprises, traps, etc.
      • DrydenShe starts, and leaves her bed, amd springs a light.
      • Jonathan SwiftThe friends to the cause sprang a new project.
      • 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumesNorth Korea loves to spring surprises. More unusual is for its US foe to play along.
    5. (slang) To release or set free, especially from prison.
    6. To come into being, often quickly or sharply.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 1, However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 17, The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. ....
    7. Trees are already springing up in the plantation.
    8. To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert.
      • Otwaywatchful as fowlers when their game will spring
    9. To cause to spring up; to start or rouse, as game; to cause to rise from the earth, or from a covert.to spring a pheasant
    10. To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken.to spring a mast or a yard
    11. 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.to spring in a slat or a bar
    12. To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot.
      • DrydenAnd sudden light
        Sprung through the vaulted roof.
    13. To fly back.A bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.
    14. To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped.A piece of timber, or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning.
    15. To shoot up, out, or forth; to come to the light; to begin to appear; to emerge, like a plant from its seed, a stream from its source, etc.; often followed by up, forth, or out.
      • Bible, Job xxxviii. 27to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth
      • RoweDo not blast my springing hopes.
      • Alexander PopeO, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born.
    16. To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle.
      • Miltonfound new hope to spring
        Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked.
    17. (obsolete) To grow; to prosper.
      • DrydenWhat makes all this, but Jupiter the king,
        At whose command we perish, and we spring?

    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

    Derived terms

    Terms derived from the verb to spring

    Related terms

    Terms related to the verb to spring

    Noun

    spring

    (countable and uncountable; plural springs)
    1. A leap; a bound; a jump.
      • DrydenThe prisoner, with a spring, from prison broke.
    2. (countable)  Traditionally the first of the four seasons of the year in temperate regions, in which plants spring from the ground and trees come into blossom, following winter and preceding summer.Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.I spent my spring holidays in Morocco.You can visit me in the spring, when the weather is bearable.
    3. (countable)  Meteorologically, the months of March, April and May in the northern hemisphere (or September, October and November in the southern).
      • 2012, Anna Lena Phillips, Sneaky Silk Moths, 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.
    4. (countable)  The astronomically delineated period from the moment of vernal equinox, approximately March 21 in the northern hemisphere to the moment of the summer solstice, approximately June 21. (See for other variations.)
    5. (countable)  Spring tide; a tide of greater-than-average range, that is, around the first or third quarter of a lunar month, or around the times of the new or full moon.
    6. (countable)  A place where water emerges from the ground.This water is bottled from the spring of the river.
    7. (uncountable)  The property of a body of springing to its original form after being compressed, stretched, etc.the spring of a bow
    8. Elastic power or force.
      • DrydenHeavens! what a spring was in his arm!
    9. (countable)  A mechanical device made of flexible or coiled material that exerts force when it is bent, compressed or stretched.We jumped so hard the bed springs broke.
    10. (countable, slang)  An erection of the penis.
    11. (countable)  The source of an action or of a supply.
      • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, § 9.... discover, at least in some degree, the secret springs and principles, by which the human mind is actuated in its operations?
      • Bible, Psalms lxxxviiAll my springs are in thee.
      • BentleyA secret spring of spiritual joy.
    12. Any active power; that by which action, or motion, is produced or propagated; cause; origin; motive.
      • Alexander PopeOur author shuns by vulgar springs to move
        The hero's glory, or the virgin's love.
    13. That which springs, or is originated, from a source.
      1. A race; lineage.
      2. A youth; a springald.
      3. A shoot; a plant; a young tree; also, a grove of trees; woodland.
    14. (obsolete)  That which causes one to spring; specifically, a lively tune.
    15. The time of growth and progress; early portion; first stage.
      • Bible, 1 Sam. ix. 26The spring of the day.
      • ShakespeareO how this spring of love resembleth
        The uncertain glory of an April day.
    16. (countable, nautical)  A rope attaching the bow of a vessel to the stern-side of the jetty, or vice versa, to stop the vessel from surging.You should put a couple of springs onto the jetty to stop the boat moving so much.
    17. (nautical)  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.
    18. (nautical)  A crack or fissure in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely.

    Usage notes

    Note that season names are usually spelled in all lowercase letters in English.

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

    Terms derived from the noun spring"hemoglobin * hot spring"no * offspring

    Related terms

    Terms related to the noun spring
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