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Spring - 13 dictionary results

spring

[spring] verb, sprang or, often, sprung; sprung; spring⋅ing; noun, adjective
–verb (used without object)
1. to rise, leap, move, or act suddenly and swiftly, as by a sudden dart or thrust forward or outward, or being suddenly released from a coiled or constrained position: to spring into the air; a tiger about to spring.
2. to be released from a constrained position, as by resilient or elastic force or from the action of a spring: A trap springs. The door sprang open and in he walked.
3. to issue forth suddenly, as water, blood, sparks, fire, etc. (often fol. by forth, out, or up): Blood sprang from the wound.
4. to come into being, rise, or arise within a short time (usually fol. by up): Industries sprang up in the suburbs.
5. to come into being by growth, as from a seed or germ, bulb, root, etc.; grow, as plants.
6. to proceed or originate from a specific source or cause.
7. to have as one's birth or lineage; be descended, as from a person, family, stock, etc.; come from: to spring from ancient aristocracy.
8. to rise or extend upward, as a spire.
9. to take an upward course or curve from a point of support, as an arch.
10. to come or appear suddenly, as if at a bound: An objection sprang to mind.
11. to start or rise from cover, as a pheasant, woodcock, or the like.
12. to become bent or warped, as boards.
13. to shift or work loose, as parts of a mechanism, structure, etc.: The board sprang from the fence during the storm.
14. to explode, as a mine.
15. Archaic. to begin to appear, as day, light, etc.; dawn.
–verb (used with object)
16. to cause to spring.
17. to cause to fly back, move, or act, as by resiliency, elastic force, a spring, etc.: to spring a lock.
18. to cause to shift out of place, work loose, warp, split, or crack: Moisture sprang the board from the fence.
19. to split or crack: The ship sprang its keel on a rock.
20. to develop by or as by splitting or cracking: The boat sprang a leak.
21. to bend by force, or force in by bending, as a resilient slat or bar.
22. to stretch or bend (a spring or other resilient device) beyond its elastic tolerance: This clip has been sprung.
23. to bring out, disclose, produce, make, etc., suddenly: to spring a joke.
24. to leap over.
25. Slang. to secure the release of (someone) from confinement, as of jail, military service, or the like.
26. Nautical. to move (a vessel) into or out of a berth by pulling on the offshore end of a warp made fast to the pier.
27. to explode (a mine).
–noun
28. a leap, jump, or bound.
29. a sudden movement caused by the release of something elastic.
30. an elastic or bouncing quality: There is a spring in his walk.
31. elasticity or resilience: This board has spring in it.
32. a structural defect or injury caused by a warp, crack, etc.
33. an issue of water from the earth, taking the form, on the surface, of a small stream or standing as a pool or small lake.
34. the place of such an issue: mineral springs.
35. a source or fountainhead of something: a spring of inspiration.
36. an elastic contrivance or body, as a strip or wire of steel coiled spirally, that recovers its shape after being compressed, bent, or stretched.
37. the season between winter and summer: in the Northern Hemisphere from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice; in the Southern Hemisphere from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice.
38. (in temperate zones) the season of the year following winter and characterized by the budding of trees, growth of plants, the onset of warmer weather, etc.
39. the first stage and freshest period: the spring of life.
40. Nautical.
a. warp (def. 16).
b. a line from the quarter of a vessel to an anchor on the bottom, used to hold the vessel at its mooring, broadside to the current.
41. Also called springing. Architecture.
a. the point at which an arch or dome rises from its support.
b. the rise or the angle of the rise of an arch.
42. Archaic. the dawn, as of day, light, etc.
–adjective
43. of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or suitable for the season of spring: spring flowers.
44. resting on or containing mechanical springs.
45. spring for, Informal. to pay for; treat someone to.

Origin:
bef. 900; (v.) ME springen, OE springan; c. D, G springen, ON springa; (n.) ME spring(e), OE spring, spryng issue of a stream; cf. MLG, OHG, Dan, Sw spring


springlike, adjective


1. jump, bound, hop, vault. 2. recoil, rebound. 3. shoot, dart, fly. 4. start, originate. 6. emerge, emanate, issue, flow. 12. bend, warp. 31. resiliency, buoyancy. 35. origin, head. 43. vernal.

warp

[wawrp]
–verb (used with object)
1. to bend or twist out of shape, esp. from a straight or flat form, as timbers or flooring.
2. to bend or turn from the natural or true direction or course.
3. to distort or cause to distort from the truth, fact, true meaning, etc.; bias; falsify: Prejudice warps the mind.
4. Aeronautics. to curve or bend (a wing or other airfoil) at the end or ends to promote equilibrium or to secure lateral control.
5. Nautical. to move (a vessel) into a desired place or position by hauling on a rope that has been fastened to something fixed, as a buoy or anchor.
6. Agriculture. to fertilize (land) by inundation with water that deposits alluvial matter.
–verb (used without object)
7. to become bent or twisted out of shape, esp. out of a straight or flat form: The wood has warped in drying.
8. to be or become biased; hold or change an opinion due to prejudice, external influence, or the like.
9. Nautical.
a. to warp a ship or boat into position.
b. (of a ship or boat) to move by being warped.
10. (of a stratum in the earth's crust) to bend slightly, to a degree that no fold or fault results.
–noun
11. a bend, twist, or variation from a straight or flat form in something, as in wood that has dried unevenly.
12. a mental twist, bias, or quirk, or a biased or twisted attitude or judgment.
13. the set of yarns placed lengthwise in the loom, crossed by and interlaced with the weft, and forming the lengthwise threads in a woven fabric.
14. time warp.
15. a situation, environment, etc., that seems characteristic of another era, esp. in being out of touch with contemporary life or attitudes, etc.
16. Also called spring, spring line. Nautical. a rope for warping or hauling a ship or boat along or into position.
17. alluvial matter deposited by water, esp. water let in to inundate low land so as to enrich it.

Origin:
bef. 900; (v.) ME werpen, OE weorpan to throw; c. G werfen, ON verpa, Goth wairpan; (n.) ME warpe, OE wearp; c. G Warf, ON varp


warpage, noun


1. turn, contort, distort. 2. swerve, deviate.


1, 7. straighten.
spring   (sprĭng)   
v.   sprang (sprāng) or sprung (sprŭng), sprung, spring·ing, springs

v.   intr.
  1. To move upward or forward in a single quick motion or a series of such motions; leap.
  2. To move suddenly on or as if on a spring: The door sprang shut. The emergency room team sprang into action.
  3. To appear or come into being quickly: New businesses were springing up rapidly. See Synonyms at stem1.
  4. To issue or emerge suddenly: A cry sprang from her lips. A thought springs to mind.
  5. To extend or curve upward, as an arch.
  6. To arise from a source; develop.
  7. To become warped, split, or cracked. Used of wood.
  8. To move out of place; come loose, as parts of a mechanism.
  9. Slang To pay another's expenses: He offered to spring for the dinner.
v.   tr.
  1. To cause to leap, dart, or come forth suddenly.
  2. To jump over; vault.
  3. To release from a checked or inoperative position; actuate: spring a trap.
    1. To cause to warp, split, or crack, as a mast.
    2. To bend by force.
  4. To present or disclose unexpectedly or suddenly: "He sprung on the world this novel approach to political journalism" (Curtis Wilkie).
  5. Slang To cause to be released from prison or other confinement.
n.  
  1. An elastic device, such as a coil of wire, that regains its original shape after being compressed or extended.
  2. An actuating force or factor; a motive.
    1. Elasticity; resilience.
    2. Energetic bounce: a spring to one's step.
    3. The season of the year, occurring between winter and summer, during which the weather becomes warmer and plants revive, extending in the Northern Hemisphere from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice and popularly considered to comprise March, April, and May.
    4. A time of growth and renewal.
  3. The act or an instance of jumping or leaping.
  4. A usually rapid return to normal shape after removal of stress; recoil.
  5. A small stream of water flowing naturally from the earth.
  6. A source, origin, or beginning.
    1. The season of the year, occurring between winter and summer, during which the weather becomes warmer and plants revive, extending in the Northern Hemisphere from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice and popularly considered to comprise March, April, and May.
    2. A time of growth and renewal.
  7. A warping, bending, or cracking, as that caused by excessive force.
  8. Architecture The point at which an arch or vault rises from its support.
adj.  
  1. Of or acting like a spring; resilient.
  2. Having or supported by springs: a spring mattress.
    1. Of, relating to, occurring in, or appropriate to the season of spring: spring showers; spring planting.
    2. Grown during the season of spring: spring crops.

[Middle English springen, from Old English springan. N., Middle English springe, from Old English spring, wellspring.]

Spring

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.

Spring

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.

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 or spar (Naut.), to strain it so that it is unserviceable.

Spring

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.

Spring lock, a lock that fastens with a spring.

Spring mattress, a spring bed.

Spring of an arch (Arch.) See Springing line of an arch, under Springing.

Spring of pork, the lower part of a fore quarter, which is divided from the neck, and has the leg and foot without the shoulder. [Obs.] --Nares.

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.
Language Translation for : Spring
Italian: saltare, balzare,
German: springen,
Japanese: 跳ぶ

spring  (v.)
O.E. springan "to leap, burst forth, fly up" (class III strong verb; past tense sprang, pp. sprungen), from P.Gmc. *sprenganan (cf. O.N., O.Fris. springa, M.Du. springhen, O.H.G. springan, Ger. springen), from PIE *sprengh- "rapid movement" (cf. Skt. sprhayati "desires eagerly," Gk. sperkhesthai "to hurry"). In M.E., it took on the role of causal sprenge, from O.E. sprengan (as still in to spring a trap, etc.). Slang meaning "to pay" (for a treat, etc.) is arecorded from 1906. Meaning "to announce suddenly" (usually with on) is from 1876. Meaning "to release" (from imprisonment) is from 1900. The noun meaning "act of springing or leaping" is from c.1450. The elastic coil that returns to its shape when stretched is so called from 1428, originally in clocks and watches. As a device in carriages, coaches, etc., it is attested from 1665. From c.1300 the noun had a general sense of "action or time of rising or springing into existence," and was used of sunrise, the waxing of the moon, rising tides, etc., a sense preserved in spring (n.1). Springer as a type of spaniel is recorded from 1808.

spring  (n.1)
"season following winter," 1547, earlier springing time, (1387), spring-time (1495), spring of the year (1530), which had replaced O.E. Lent by late 14c. From spring (v.); the notion is of the "spring of the year," when plants "spring up" (cf. spring of the leaf, 1538). Other Gmc. languages tend to take words for "fore" or "early" as their roots for the season name, cf. Dan. voraar, Du. voorjaar, lit. "fore-year;" Ger. Frühling, from M.H.G. vrueje "early." In 15c., the season also was prime-temps, after O.Fr. prin tans, tamps prim (Fr. printemps, which replaced primevère 16c. as the common word for spring), from L. tempus primum, lit. "first time, first season." Spring fever was O.E. lenctenadle; first record of spring cleaning is in 1857 (in ancient Persia, the first month, corresponding to March-April, was Adukanaiša, which apparently means "Irrigation-Canal-Cleaning Month;" Kent, p.167). Spring chicken "small roasting chicken" (usually 11 to 14 weeks) is recorded from 1780; transf. sense of "young person" first recorded 1906. Spring training first attested 1897.

spring  (n.2)
"source of a stream or river," O.E., from spring (v.) on the notion of the water "bursting forth" from the ground. Rarely used alone, appearing more often in compounds, e.g. wyllspring "wellspring." Fig. sense of "source or origin of something" is attested from c.1225.

Main Entry: spring
Pronunciation: 'spri[ng]
Function: noun
: any of various elastic orthodontic devices used especially to apply constant pressure tomisaligned teeth
spring   (sprĭng)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. A device, such as a coil of wire, that returns to its original shape after being compressed or stretched. Because of their ability to return to their original shape, springs are used to store energy, as in mechanical clocks, and to absorb or lessen energy, as in the suspension system of vehicles.
  2. A small stream of water flowing naturally from the Earth.

Spring

(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.

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