spring

...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:

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:

(intransitive) To move or burst forth.
To appear.

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:

Foxglove sprang tall and purple among the trees.

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

(intransitive) To move or burst forth.
To grow, to sprout.

To move or burst forth.
To grow, to sprout.

(intransitive) To move or burst forth.
To grow, to sprout.
(UK dialectal) To mature.

To move or burst forth.
To grow, to sprout.
To mature.

(figurative) To arise, to come into existence.

To move or burst forth.
To arise, to come into existence.

He hit the gas and the car sprang to life.

(intransitive) To move or burst forth.
(sometimes figurative) To enliven.

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

...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...

...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:

Thus she advanced; her belly low, almost touching the surface of the ground—a great cat preparing to spring upon its prey.

1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes:

Reporters sprang to the conclusion that the speech would make detailed new commitments...

(figurative, usually with cardinal adverbs) To move with great speed and energy.

To move or burst forth.
To move with great speed and energy.

He sprang from peasant stock.

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:

(usually with from) To be born, descend, or originate from

To move or burst forth.
To be born, descend, or originate from

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

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

The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.

...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:

(transitive) To cause to spring (all senses).

He sprang the trap.

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:

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

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

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

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

...[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:

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

(transitive, obsolete) To wet, to moisten.

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:

(intransitive, now usually with "apart" or "open") To burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter.

To burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter.

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

2012 April 21, Sydney Morning Herald, page 5:

The Edward sprang hir foremast.

(ambitransitive, nautical, usually perfective) To crack.

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

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.

[…] 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:

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

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

(Australia, slang) To catch in an illegal act or compromising position.

To catch in an illegal act or compromising position.

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

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

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:

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

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

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

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

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

To be free of imprisonment, especially by illegal escape.

They sprung an arch over the lintel.

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

The arches spring from the front posts.

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

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

To turn a vessel using a spring attached to its anchor cable.

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

1957, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Over Seventy, page 137:

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

To pay or spend a certain sum, to yield.

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

(transitive, US, dialectal) Alternative form of sprain.

(transitive, US, dialectal) Alternative form of strain.

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

To act as a spring: to strongly rebound.

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

(figurative, rare, obsolete) to inspire, to motivate.

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.

He sprang in the slat.

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

“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:

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

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:

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

(of animals) To find or get enough food during springtime.

To find or get enough food during springtime.

en-verb

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

springs (present singular third-person)
springing (participle present)
sprang (past)
sprung (past)
sprung (participle past)
spring (infinitive)
spring (first-person present singular)
sprang (first-person past singular)
sprung (first-person nonstandard past singular)
spring (present second-person singular)
sprang (past second-person singular)
sprung (nonstandard past second-person singular)
springs (present singular third-person)
sprang (past singular third-person)
sprung (nonstandard past singular third-person)
spring (plural present)
sprang (past plural)
sprung (nonstandard past plural)
spring (present subjunctive)
sprang (past subjunctive)
sprung (nonstandard past subjunctive)
spring (imperative present)
springing (participle present)
sprung (participle past)
sprang (nonstandard participle past)

From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”), from *sper- (“to jerk, twitch, snap, shove”).
Cognates
* Saterland Frisian springe
* West Frisian springe
* Dutch springen
* German Low German springen
* German springen
* Danish springe
* Swedish springa
* Norwegian springe
* Faroese springa
* Icelandic springa (“to burst, explode”).
Other possible cognates include Lithuanian spreñgti (“to push (in)”), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin, to stretch”), Latin spargere (“to sprinkle, to scatter”), Ancient Greek σπέρχω (spérkhō, “to hasten”), Sanskrit स्पृहयति (spṛháyati, “to be eager”). Some newer senses derived from the noun.

inh

to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out

Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”)

der

Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”)

cog

Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin, to stretch”)

Latin spargere (“to sprinkle, to scatter”)

Ancient Greek σπέρχω (spérkhō, “to hasten”)

Sanskrit स्पृहयति (spṛháyati, “to be eager”)


spring

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:

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

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.

(countable, uncountable) The 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.

(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.

I spent my spring holidays in Morocco.

The spring issue will be out next week.

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

Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.

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:

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, page 172:

...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:

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]:

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

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

Arab Spring

Prague Spring

(figurative, politics) a period of political liberalization and democratization

a period of political liberalization and democratization

(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.

This beer was brewed with pure spring water.

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

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

A spray or body of water springing from the ground.

(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.

spring tide

the especially high tide shortly after full and new moons

We jumped so hard the bed springs broke.

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

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:

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

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

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.

(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.

(countable, slang) An erection of the penis.

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:

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

the spring of a bow

(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.

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

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:

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:

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:

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

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

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. Wilks.”, in [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC:

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

en-noun

spring (countable and uncountable, plural springs)

Arlington Springs Man
Beijing Spring
Berber Spring
Croatian Spring
Damascus Spring
Operation Spring Awakening
Operation Spring Cleanup
Operation Spring of Youth
Prague Spring
Spring Palace
Spring of Nations
Springbal
Springfest
The Spring Offensive
spring

ааԥын

season between winter and summer in temperate climates

про́лет

period from vernal equinox to summer solstice

про́лет

the three months March to May (N. Hem.) or September to November (S. Hem.)

springi

nautical: line from an end or side to the anchor cable

spring

nautical: line from an end to another vessel or mooring to limit surging

halkeama

nautical: crack or fissure in a mast or yard

From Middle English spryng (“a wellspring, tide, branch, sunrise, kind of dance or blow, ulcer, snare, flock”); partly from Old English spring (“wellspring, ulcer”), from Proto-West Germanic *spring, from Proto-Germanic *springaz (“a wellspring, fount”); and partly from Old English spryng (“a jump”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprungi, from Proto-Germanic *sprungiz (“a jump”). Further senses derived from the verb and from clippings of day-spring, springtime, spring tide, etc. Its sense as the season, first attested in a work predating 1325, gradually replaced Middle English lente, lentin, from Old English lencten (“spring, Lent”) as that word became more specifically liturgical. Compare fall.

inh

Old English spring (“wellspring, ulcer”)

Proto-Germanic *springaz (“a wellspring, fount”)


spring

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:

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

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:

(intransitive) To spend the springtime somewhere.

en-verb

spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springing, simple past and past participle springed)

springs (present singular third-person)
springing (participle present)
springed (participle past)
springed (past)