Spring

[sprɪŋ]

Definition

(noun.) a metal elastic device that returns to its shape or position when pushed or pulled or pressed; 'the spring was broken'.

(noun.) a point at which water issues forth.

(noun.) a natural flow of ground water.

(noun.) the season of growth; 'the emerging buds were a sure sign of spring'; 'he will hold office until the spring of next year'.

(verb.) develop suddenly; 'The tire sprang a leak'.

(verb.) produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly; 'He sprang these news on me just as I was leaving'.

Editor: Sharon--From WordNet

Definition

(v. i.) To leap; to bound; to jump.

(v. i.) To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot.

(v. i.) To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert.

(v. i.) To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.

(v. i.) To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped; as, a piece of timber, or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning.

(v. i.) 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.

(v. i.) To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle.

(v. i.) To grow; to prosper.

(v. t.) 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.

(v. t.) To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly.

(v. t.) To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine.

(v. t.) To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard.

(v. t.) To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap.

(v. t.) 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.

(v. t.) To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence.

(v. i.) A leap; a bound; a jump.

(v. i.) A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by elasticity; as, the spring of a bow.

(v. i.) Elastic power or force.

(v. i.) 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.

(v. i.) Any source of supply; especially, the source from which a stream proceeds; as issue of water from the earth; a natural fountain.

(v. i.) Any active power; that by which action, or motion, is produced or propagated; cause; origin; motive.

(v. i.) That which springs, or is originated, from a source;

(v. i.) A race; lineage.

(v. i.) A youth; a springal.

(v. i.) A shoot; a plant; a young tree; also, a grove of trees; woodland.

(v. i.) That which causes one to spring; specifically, a lively tune.

(v. i.) 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.

(v. i.) The time of growth and progress; early portion; first stage.

(v. i.) A crack or fissure in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely.

(v. i.) 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.

Typist: Shelley

Synonyms and Synonymous

v. n. [1]. Leap, bound, jump, vault, hop, CAPER.[2]. Rise, start, come forth.[3]. Arise, proceed, issue, put forth, shoot forth, make its appearance.[4]. Originate, emanate, flow, take its rise, have its origin.[5]. Rebound, fly back.[6]. Warp, bend.

n. [1]. Leap, bound, jump.[2]. Elasticity, resiliency, springiness, elastic force.[3]. Fountain, well, FOUNT, fountain-head.[4]. Source, original, origin, principle, cause.[5]. Vernal season.

Typed by Jewel

Synonyms and Antonyms

SYN:Leap, bound, jump, start, emerge, issue, proceed, originate, rise, emanate,germinate, burst, flow

ANT:Settle, alight, land, drop, arrive, issue, eventuate, end, terminate, debouch,disembogue

SYN:Origin, source, fountain, beginning, rise,[See PURE]

Inputed by Betty

Definition

v.i. to bound: to leap: to rush hastily: to move suddenly by elastic force: to start up suddenly: to break forth: to appear: to issue: to come into existence: (B.) to rise as the sun.—v.t. to cause to spring up: to start: to produce quickly cause to act suddenly: to leap over: to explode as a mine: to open as a leak: to crack as a mast: to bend by force strain: (archit.) to start from an abutment &c.: to set together with bevel-joints:—pa.t. sprang sprung; pa.p. sprung.—n. a leap: a flying back with elastic force: elastic power: an elastic body: any active power: that by which action is produced: cause or origin: a source: an outflow of water from the earth: (B.) the dawn: the time when plants begin to spring up and grow the vernal season—March April May: a starting of a plank in a vessel: a crack in a mast.—ns. Spring′al Spring′ald an active springy young man a youth; Spring′-back an inner false joint on a bound book springing upward from the true or outer back when the book is opened flat; Spring′-bal′ance an instrument for determining the weight of a body by the elasticity of a spiral spring; Spring′-beam a beam of considerable span without central support the tie-beam of a truss; in a steamer a fore-and-aft beam for connecting the two paddle-beams: an elastic bar at the top of a tilt-hammer jig-saw &c.; Spring′-beau′ty the Claytonia Virginica; Spring′-bed a mattress formed of spiral springs set in a wooden frame; Spring′-bee′tle an elater; Spring′-board a board fastened on elastic supports used to spring from in performing feats of agility; Spring′bok a beautiful South African antelope larger than a roebuck ; Spring′-box a box or barrel in which a spring is coiled: the frame of a sofa &c. in which the springs are set; Spring′-carr′iage a wheel-carriage mounted on springs; Spring′-cart a light cart mounted upon springs; Spring′er a kind of dog of the spaniel class useful for springing game in copses: one who springs: the bottom stone of an arch; Spring′-gun a gun having wires connected with its trigger and so fixed and planted as to be discharged when trespassers stumble against the wire; Spring′-halt a jerking lameness in which a horse suddenly twitches up his leg or legs; Spring′-hamm′er a machine-hammer in which the blow is delivered or augmented by the force of a spring; Spring′-head a fountain-head source: a head or end-piece for a carriage-spring.—adj. Spring′-head′ed (Spens.) having heads springing afresh.—ns. Spring′-heeled Jack one supposed capable of leaping a great height or distance in carrying out mischievous or frolicsome tricks; Spring′-hook an angler's snap-hook or spear-hook: a latch or door-hook with a spring-catch for keeping it fast in the staple: in a locomotive a hook fixing the driving-wheel spring to the frame; Spring′-house a house for keeping meat in or a dairy built for coolness over a spring or brook; Spring′iness; Spring′ing the act of springing leaping arising or issuing: (B.) growth increase: (archit.) the lowest part of an arch on both sides; Spring′-jack a device for inserting a loop in a main electric line-circuit a plug being forced between two spring contacts; Spring′-latch a latch that snaps into the keeper whenever the door is shut; Spring′let a little spring: a small stream; Spring′-lig′ament the inferior calcaneoscaphoid ligament of the sole of the foot; Spring′-lock a lock which fastens by a spring; Spring′-mat′tress,=Spring-bed; Spring′-net a net that closes with a spring; Spring′-pad′lock a padlock that snaps itself shut; Spring′-pole a pole whose elasticity serves as a spring; Spring′-sad′dle a bent iron bar of form on the top of a railway carriage journal-box surrounding the arch-bar and supporting the spring; Spring′-search′er a steel-pronged tool to search for defects in the bore of a gun; Spring′-shack′le a shackle closed by a spring: a shackle joining one spring of a vehicle with another or with a rigid piece; Spring′-stay (naut.) a smaller stay placed above the stays as a duplicate if needed; Spring′-stud a rod passed through the axis of a coil-spring to keep it in place; Spring′-tail one of an order of primitive wingless insects (Collembola) so called popularly from a peculiar springing fork usually present on the abdomen; Spring′-tide the periodical excess of the elevation and depression of the tide after new and full moon when both sun and moon act in the same direction; Spring′-tide -time the season of spring; Spring′-tool any tool bearing a spring as a glass-blower's tongs; Spring′-trap a trap worked by a spring a mouse-trap &c.; Spring′-valve a valve fitted with a spring: a safety-valve connected with a spring-balance; Spring′-wa′ter water issuing from a spring; Spring′-wheat wheat sown in the spring rather than autumn or winter; Spring′-wort a plant which draws down lightning—perh. the caperspurge.—adj. Spring′y pertaining to or like a spring elastic nimble: abounding with springs.—Spring a leak to commence leaking; Spring a mine to cause it to explode—often used figuratively; Spring a rattle to cause a rattle to sound; Spring at to leap at; Spring forth to come forward with a leap: to shoot up rapidly; Spring on or upon to attack with violence."

Editor: Nell