Mainspring
['meɪnsprɪŋ] or ['mensprɪŋ]
Definition
(noun.) the most important spring in a mechanical device (especially a clock or watch); as it uncoils it drives the mechanism.
Typed by Joan--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The principal or most important spring in a piece of mechanism, especially the moving spring of a watch or clock or the spring in a gunlock which impels the hammer. Hence: The chief or most powerful motive; the efficient cause of action.
Typed by Larry
Examples
- HEEP, and only HEEP, is the mainspring of that machine. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- As the hammers move back the mainspring is compressed, and when the dog B is removed from the notch by pulling on the trigger, the hammers are released and the gun fired. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- In it is coiled the mainspring--a strip of steel about twenty-three inches long, which is carefully tempered to insure elasticity and pull. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The mistake is not in attaching importance to preparation for future need, but in making it the mainspring of present effort. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The outer end of the mainspring is attached to the rim of the barrel, and the inner end to the barrel arbor. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- And so the alternate actions proceed, and the balance wheel travels further each time, until it reaches the greatest amount which the force of the mainspring can give. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- If we wind up the mainspring of the watch it will immediately cause the main wheel to turn, and, of course, that will turn the next wheel, and so on to the escape wheel. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
Checker: Marsha