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Wordswarms From Years PastAdjacent WordsSpriggedsprigger Sprigging Spriggy Spright Sprightful Sprightfully Sprightfulness Sprightless Sprightlier Sprightliest Sprightliness Sprightly sprigtail spring a leak Spring and Autumn period Spring back spring balance Spring beam spring beauty Spring bed Spring beetle spring bolt Spring box spring break spring cankerworm spring chicken spring cleavers Full-text Search for "Spring" 1937 |
Spring definitions
Webster's 1828 DictionarySPRING, v.i. pret. sprung, [sprang, not wholly obsolete;] pp. sprung. WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)n Merriam Webster's
Britannica ConciseIn hydrology, an opening at or near the earth's surface where water from underground sources is discharged. Springs discharge either at ground level or directly into the bed of a stream, lake, or sea. Water that emerges at the surface without a perceptible current is called a seep. Elastic machine component able to deflect under load in a prescribed manner and to recover its initial shape when unloaded. The combination of force and displacement in a deflected spring is energy, which may be stored when moving loads are being stopped or when the spring is wound up for use as a power source (e.g., in a watch). Though most springs are mechanical, hydraulic (liquid) and air springs exist. In hydrology, an opening at or near the earth's surface where water from underground sources is discharged. Springs discharge either at ground level or directly into the bed of a stream, lake, or sea. Water that emerges at the surface without a perceptible current is called a seep. Elastic machine component able to deflect under load in a prescribed manner and to recover its initial shape when unloaded. The combination of force and displacement in a deflected spring is energy, which may be stored when moving loads are being stopped or when the spring is wound up for use as a power source (e.g., in a watch). Though most springs are mechanical, hydraulic (liquid) and air springs exist. Oxford Reference Dictionaryv. & n. --v. (past sprang or US sprung; past part. sprung) 1 intr. jump; move rapidly or suddenly (sprang from his seat; sprang through the gap; sprang to their assistance). 2 intr. move rapidly as from a constrained position or by the action of a spring (the branch sprang back; the door sprang to). 3 intr. (usu. foll. by from) originate or arise (springs from an old family; their actions spring from a false conviction). 4 intr. (usu. foll. by up) come into being; appear, esp. suddenly (a breeze sprang up; the belief has sprung up). 5 tr. cause to act suddenly, esp. by means of a spring (spring a trap). 6 tr. (often foll. by on) produce or develop or make known suddenly or unexpectedly (has sprung a new theory; loves to spring surprises). 7 tr. sl. contrive the escape or release of. 8 tr. rouse (game) from earth or covert. 9 a intr. become warped or split. b tr. split, crack (wood or a wooden implement). 10 tr. (usu. as sprung adj.) provide (a motor vehicle etc.) with springs. 11 a tr. colloq. spend (money). b intr. (usu. foll. by for) US & Austral. sl. pay for a treat. 12 tr. cause (a mine) to explode. --n. 1 a jump (took a spring; rose with a spring). 2 a backward movement from a constrained position; a recoil, e.g. of a bow. 3 elasticity; ability to spring back strongly (a mattress with plenty of spring). 4 a resilient device usu. of bent or coiled metal used esp. to drive clockwork or for cushioning in furniture or vehicles. 5 a the season in which vegetation begins to appear, the first season of the year, in the N. hemisphere from March to May and in the S. hemisphere from September to November. b Astron. the period from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice. c (often foll. by of) the early stage of life etc. d = spring tide. 6 a place where water, oil, etc., wells up from the earth; the basin or flow so formed (hot springs; mineral springs). 7 the motive for or origin of an action, custom, etc. (the springs of human action). 8 sl. an escape or release from prison. 9 the upward curve of a beam etc. from a horizontal line. 10 the splitting or yielding of a plank etc. under strain. Phrases and idioms: spring balance a balance that measures weight by the tension of a spring. spring bed a bed with a spring mattress. spring chicken 1 a young fowl for eating (orig. available only in spring). 2 (esp. with neg.) a young person (she's no spring chicken). spring-clean n. a thorough cleaning of a house or room, esp. in spring. --v.tr. clean (a house or room) in this way. spring fever a restless or lethargic feeling sometimes associated with spring. spring greens the leaves of young cabbage plants. spring a leak develop a leak (orig. Naut., from timbers springing out of position). spring-loaded containing a compressed or stretched spring pressing one part against another. spring mattress a mattress containing or consisting of springs. spring onion an onion taken from the ground before the bulb has formed, and eaten raw in salad. spring roll a Chinese snack consisting of a pancake filled with vegetables etc. and fried. spring tide a tide just after new and full moon when there is the greatest difference between high and low water. spring water water from a spring, as opposed to river or rain water. sprung rhythm a poetic metre approximating to speech, each foot having one stressed syllable followed by a varying number of unstressed. Derivatives: springless adj. springlet n. springlike adj. Etymology: OE springan f. Gmc Webster's 1913 DictionarySpring Spring, v. i. [imp. Sprangor Sprung; p. p. Sprung; p. pr. & vb. n. Springing.] [AS. springan; akin to D. & G. springen, OS. & OHG. springan, Icel. & Sw. springa, Dan. springe; cf. Gr. ? to hasten. Cf. 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. Webster's 1913 DictionarySpring Spring, n. [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.'' --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) (Zo["o]l.) A small, elegant American butterfly (Erora l[ae]ta) 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 (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Zo["o]l.), 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. Webster's 1913 DictionarySpring 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. Collin's Cobuild Dictionary(springs, springing, sprang, sprung) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. Spring is the season between winter and summer when the weather becomes warmer and plants start to grow again. We met again in the spring of 1977. N-VAR 2. A spring is a spiral of wire which returns to its original shape after it is pressed or pulled. Both springs in the fuel pump were broken. N-COUNT 3. A spring is a place where water comes up through the ground. It is also the water that comes from that place. To the north are the hot springs of Banyas de Sant Loan. N-COUNT: usu pl 4. When a person or animal springs, they jump upwards or forwards suddenly or quickly. He sprang to his feet, grabbing his keys off the coffee table... Throwing back the sheet, he sprang from the bed... The lion roared once and sprang. VERB: V prep, V prep, V 5. If something springs in a particular direction, it moves suddenly and quickly. Sadly when the lid of the boot sprang open, it was empty. VERB: V adj 6. If one thing springs from another thing, it is the result of it. Ethiopia's art springs from her early Christian as well as her Muslim heritage... = stem VERB: V from n 7. If a boat or container springs a leak, water or some other liquid starts coming in or out through a crack. The yacht has sprung a leak in the hull. VERB: V n 8. If you spring some news or a surprise on someone, you tell them something that they did not expect to hear, without warning them. Mclaren sprang a new idea on him. VERB: V n on n 9. to spring to mind: see mind Easton's Bible Dictionary(Heb. 'ain, "the bright open source, the eye of the landscape"). To be carefully distinguished from "well" (q.v.). "Springs" mentioned in Josh. 10:40 (Heb. 'ashdoth) should rather be "declivities" or "slopes" (R.V.), i.e., the undulating ground lying between the lowlands (the shephelah) and the central range of hills. International Standard Bible EncyclopediaSee FOUNTAIN; WELL. Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms
Foolish DictionaryFormerly a very delightful season but now obsolete except in poetry and the Old Farmer's Almanac. Moby ThesaurusEastertide, Highland fling, Lastex, Maytime, accrue from, adaptability, adolescence, aestival, air mattress, airiness, ambition, anabasis, and jump, appear, arctic, arise, arrive, ascension, ascent, aspiration, autumn, autumnal, backfire, backlash, backlashing, balance spring, baleen, basis, baths, battledore, be born, be contingent on, be due to, bedding, bedspring, begin, beginning, bend, bevy, birth, blast, blitz, blow to pieces, blow up, bolster, bolt, bomb, bombard, bonanza, boomerang, boreal, bounce, bounce back, bounciness, bound, bound back, broach, broad jump, brumal, buck, buckjump, buckle, bud from, budtime, buoyance, buoyancy, burst forth, calling, canicular, cannon, cannon off, canter, capriole, carom, casino, cause, charm, chewing gum, chink, clamber, clear, cleave, climb, climbing, cloud, club, clubhouse, come, come from, come into being, come into existence, come out, come out of, come up, commence, consideration, contort, contrecoup, cornucopia, covey, crack, crevasse, crook, crumple, curvet, cushion, cut, cut open, dart, demivolt, depend on, derive from, descend from, discharge, dispart, distort, divaricate, divide, elastic, elasticity, elastomer, elevation, emanate, emanate from, emancipate, emerge, emerge from, ensue from, equinoctial, escalade, evolve, excitant, extensibility, fissure, flexibility, flight, flock, flow, flow from, fly, fly back, fly open, flying jump, follow from, font, fount, fountain, fountainhead, fox-trot, gaggle, galliard, gallop, gambling house, gathering place, gelandesprung, germinate from, get, git, give, gnarl, goal, gold mine, grand jete, greenness, ground, grow, grow from, grow out of, guiding light, guiding star, gum, gum elastic, gush, gyring up, hairspring, handball, handspring, hang on, hangout, hatch, haunt, have repercussions, head, headspring, headstream, headwater, health resort, hibernal, hiemal, high jump, hightail, hinge on, hippety-hop, hive, hop, hop along, hotfoot, hurdle, ideal, impetus, incise, incitement, increase, innerspring mattress, inspiration, intention, issue, issue from, jet, jete, jig, jump, jump over, jump shot, jump turn, jump-hop, jump-off, jumping jack, juvenility, kick, kick back, kickback, knot, lash back, lavolta, lay open, leap, leap over, leapfrog, levitation, liberate, litter, liveliness, lode, lodestar, long jump, loom, loose, lop, lope, mainspring, make tracks, manumit, mat, matter, mattress, meeting place, midsummer, midwinter, mine, morris, motive, mount, mounting, murmuration, negotiate, ope, open, open up, origin, originate, originate in, out of season, overjump, overleap, overskip, pad, pallet, part, pay for, pillow, pop, pounce, pounce on, pounce upon, primavera, prime, principle, proceed, proceed from, puberty, pubescence, purlieu, quarry, racket, rallying point, reason, rebound, rebuff, recalcitrate, recalcitration, recoil, release, rent, repercuss, repercussion, repulse, resile, resilience, resiliency, resort, resource, responsiveness, ricochet, rift, rip, rise, rising, rive, riverhead, rocketing up, root, rubber, rubber ball, rubber band, rug, run, running broad jump, running high jump, sake, saltation, saut de basque, score, screw, seasonal, seedtime, separate, shock absorber, shoot up, shooting up, skein, ski jump, skip, skitter, sleeping bag, slit, snap, snap back, soaring, solstitial, source, source of supply, spa, spandex, split, spout, spread, spread out, sprightliness, spring back, spring from, spring open, springboard, springhead, springiness, springlike, springs, springtide, springtime, sprint, sprout, sprout from, spurt, stamping ground, staple, start, start aside, start up, startle, steeplechase, stem, stem from, step, step along, step lively, stimulant, stimulus, stretch, stretch fabric, stretchability, stretchiness, summer, summerlike, summerly, summery, surge, swarm, swing open, takeoff, taking off, tap, tear, tear open, throw open, tone, tonicity, tonus, tour jete, trampoline, trip, trot, turn, turn awry, turn on, twist, ulterior motive, unbind, unchain, underbed, underbedding, unshackle, upclimb, upcoming, updive, updraft, upgang, upgo, upgoing, upgrade, upgrowth, uphill, upleap, uplift, upping, uprisal, uprise, uprising, uprush, upshoot, upslope, upspring, upsurge, upsurgence, upsweep, upswing, vault, vein, vernal, vocation, warp, watch, watering place, well, wellhead, wellspring, whalebone, whence, winter, winterlike, wintery, wintry, wrench, wrest, wring, writhe, yield, youthfulness, youthhood, zooming |