spring

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To move or burst forth.

   • The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.
   • ...þe wound þat was springand with huge stremes of blude...
2. 2

   To cause to spring (all senses).

3. 3

   To leap over.

   • I sprang the fence, and was soon in the village street.
4. ›+ 41 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To breed with, to impregnate.

      • ...[they] sought the fairest stoned horses to spring their mares...
   2. 5

      To wet, to moisten.

   3. 6

      To burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter.

      • On the 22nd the mines sprang, and took very good effect.
   4. 7

      To go off.

      • The whole contraption appears liable to spring apart at any moment.
   5. 8

      To crack.

      • The Edward sprang hir foremast.
   6. 9

      To come upon and flush out.

   7. 10

      To catch in an illegal act or compromising position.

      • He figured that nobody would ever spring him, but he figured wrong.
   8. 11

      To begin.

   9. 12

      To put bad money into circulation.

   10. 13

       To tell, to share.

       • 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.
   11. 14

       To free from imprisonment, especially by facilitating an illegal escape.

       • His lieutenants hired a team of miners to help spring him.
       • If I was in jail I know you'd spring me
   12. 15

       To be free of imprisonment, especially by illegal escape.

   13. 16

       To secure a person's release from custody

       To secure a person's release from custody; to free or bail out of jail.

       • The Big Man, of course, had had an alibi as solid as Fort Knox. He had been held and questioned, but was quickly sprung by the best lawyer in Harlem.
   14. 17

       To build, to form the initial curve of.

       • They sprung an arch over the lintel.
   15. 18

       To extend, to curve.

       • The arches spring from the front posts.
   16. 19

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

   17. 20

       To pay or spend a certain sum, to yield.

       • He wouldn't spring a nickel for a bag of peanuts.
   18. 21

       To raise an offered price.

   19. 22

       Alternative form of sprain.

   20. 23

       Alternative form of strain.

   21. 24

       To act as a spring

       To act as a spring: to strongly rebound.

   22. 25

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

   23. 26

       to inspire, to motivate.

   24. 27

       To deform owing to excessive pressure, to become warped

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

       • Don't drive it in too hard, as it will ‘spring’ the plane-iron, and make it concave.
       • A piece of timber sometimes springs in seasoning.
       • He sprang in the slat.
   25. 28

       To swell with milk or pregnancy.

       • “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.
   26. 29

       To sound, to play.

       • 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."
   27. 30

       To find or get enough food during springtime.

   28. 31

       An act of springing

       An act of springing: a leap, a jump.

       • 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.
   29. 32

       The season of the year in temperate regions in which temperatures and daylight hours…

       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.

       • 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.
   30. 33

       The time of something's growth

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

       • ...and it came to passe about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house...
       • O how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day.
   31. 34

       Someone with ivory or peach skin tone and eyes and hair that are not extremely dark, seen…

       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.

   32. 35

       Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly

       • This beer was brewed with pure spring water.
   33. 36

       An erection of the penis.

   34. 37

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

       • A spar is said to be sprung, when it is cracked or split,... and the crack is called a spring.
   35. 38

       Springiness

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

       • the spring of a bow
   36. 39

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

       • As wel the singers as the players on instruments shall bee there: all my springs are in thee.
       • […] discover, at least in some degree, the secret springs and principles, by which the human mind is actuated in its operations?
   37. 40

       Something which causes others or another to spring forth or spring into action,…

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

       • Our Author ſhuns by vulgar Springs to move / The Hero's Glory, or the Virgin's Love; […]
   38. 41

       To spend the springtime somewhere.

       • 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;
       • If Tad’s father and Tad had wintered, springed, summered, and autumned together for an hundred years instead of fifteen they could[…]
       • They wintered in a warm place And summered in a cold, But where they springed and autumned I never have been told.
   39. 42

       A surname.

   40. 43

       A census-designated place in Harris County, Texas, United States.

   41. 44

       Alternative form of spring, the season of warmth and new vegetation following winter.

       • There the roſy-finger'd Spring, by the liquid mirror of a cryſtalline pool, was attiring her fair daughters in ſeven-fold ornaments, while the love-whiſpering breezes ſtole kiſſes as they paſſed, and fanned their glowing beauties.
       • [T]he Regent’s park was full of winter chirruppings and sweet with Spring odours.

The neighborhood

• synonymbeginningtime of growth, early stages
• neighborsprang
• neighborspringwort
• neighborsprung
• neighborto-spring
• neighborunspring
• neighboraspring
• neighboratspring
• neighborbespring
• neighborespringal
• neighborrumspringa
• neighborspringal
• neighborspringald