Spring (?), v. i. [imp. Sprang (?) or 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 ∨ upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault.
© Webster 1913.
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.
<-- to spring a surprise on s.o. -->
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 arch 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 ∨ spar Naut., to strain it so that it is unserviceable.
© Webster 1913.
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.
⇒ 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.
⇒ 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.
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.
© Webster 1913.