spring

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[edit] English

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[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology

Middle English springen, from Old English springan, from Proto-Germanic *springanan (compare West Frisian springe, Dutch/German springen, Swedish springa), from Proto-Indo-European *spr̥g̑h (compare Lithuanian spreñgti ‘to push in’, Old Church Slavonic pręgti ‘to spin, stretch’, Ancient Greek spérchesthai ‘to hasten’, Sanskrit spṛhayati ‘is eager’).

Sense of ‘season’ 1547, from earlier springing time, spring-time, in sense of buds sprouting or “spring” up. This replaced Old English Lent by the 14th century.[1]

Sense of ‘source of water’ attested circa 1225.[1]

[edit] Verb

spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springing, simple past sprang or sprung, past participle sprung)

  1. To start to exist.
    Sometimes the ideas spring to life fully formed.
    • 2011 January 15, Sam Sheringham, “Chelsea 4 - 3 Blackburn Rovers”, BBC:
      Just after the half-hour mark, the contest sprung to life with a frantic passage of play, Lampard's first-time ball releasing Drogba, whose slight hesitation allowed Gael Givet to produce a brilliant saving tackle.
  2. To jump or leap.
    He sprang up from his seat.
    • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
      She was awakened by a shock, so sudden and severe that if Dorothy had not been lying on the soft bed she might have been hurt. As it was, the jar made her catch her breath and wonder what had happened; and Toto put his cold little nose into her face and whined dismally. Dorothy sat up and noticed that the house was not moving; nor was it dark, for the bright sunshine came in at the window, flooding the little room. She sprang from her bed and with Toto at her heels ran and opened the door.
    • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5
      Not thirty paces behind the two she crouched--Sabor, the huge lioness--lashing her tail. Cautiously she moved a great padded paw forward, noiselessly placing it before she lifted the next. Thus she advanced; her belly low, almost touching the surface of the ground--a great cat preparing to spring upon its prey.
    • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 2
      Archer and Jacob jumped up from behind the mound where they had been crouching with the intention of springing upon their mother unexpectedly, and they all began to walk slowly home.
  3. (slang) To release or set free, especially from prison.

[edit] Usage notes

  • The past-tense forms sprang and sprung are both well attested historically. In modern usage, sprang is comparatively formal (and more often considered correct), sprung comparatively informal. The past participle, however, is overwhelmingly sprung; sprang as a past participle is attested, but is no longer in standard use.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Derived terms

Terms derived from the verb to spring

[edit] Related terms

Terms related to the verb to spring

[edit] Translations

start to exist
jump or leap
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Noun

A coil spring (mechanical device)

spring (countable and uncountable; plural springs)

  1. (countable) Traditionally the first of the four seasons of the year in temperate regions, in which plants spring from the ground and trees come into blossom, following winter and preceding summer.
    Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.
    I spent my spring holidays in Morocco.
    You can visit me in the spring, when the weather is bearable.
  2. (countable) Meteorologically, the months of March, April and May in the northern hemisphere (or September, October and November in the southern).
  3. (countable) The astronomically delineated period from the moment of vernal equinox, approximately March 20 in the northern hemisphere to the moment of the summer solstice, approximately June 21. (See Wikipedia-logo.png Spring (season) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Spring (season) for other variations.)
  4. (countable) Spring tide; a tide of greater-than-average range, that is, around the first or third quarter of a lunar month, or around the times of the new or full moon.
  5. (countable) A place where water emerges from the ground.
    This water is bottled from the spring of the river.
  6. (uncountable) The property of a body of springing to its original form after being compressed, stretched, etc.
  7. (countable) A mechanical device made of flexible or coiled material that exerts force when it is bent, compressed or stretched.
    We fucked so hard the bed springs broke.
  8. (countable, nautical) A rope attaching the bow of a vessel to the stern-side of the jetty, or vice versa, to stop the vessel from surging.
    You should put a couple of springs onto the jetty to stop the boat moving so much.
  9. (countable, slang) An erection of the penis.
  10. (countable) The source of an action
    • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, § 9.
      ... discover, at least in some degree, the secret springs and principles, by which the human mind is actuated in its operations?

[edit] Usage notes

  • Note that season names are usually spelled in all lowercase letters in English. This is contrast to the days of the week and months of the year, which are always spelled with a capitalized first letter, for example Thursday or September.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Antonyms

[edit] Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun spring

[edit] Related terms

Terms related to the noun spring

[edit] Translations

season
higher-than-average tide
water source
property of a body of springing to its original form
device made of flexible material
rope on a boat
erection — see erection
source of an action

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “spring” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Danish

[edit] Etymology

Verbal noun to springe.

[edit] Noun

spring n. (singular definite springet, plural indefinite spring)

  1. spring, jump, vault, leap

[edit] Related terms

Related terms

[edit] Inflection

    Inflection of spring
neuter gender Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative, dative and accusative spring springet spring springene
genitive springs springets springs springenes

[edit] Verb

spring

  1. imperative of springe

[edit] Dutch

[edit] Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sprɪŋ/

[edit] Verb

spring

  1. first-person singular present indicative of springen.
  2. imperative of springen.

[edit] German

[edit] Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʃpʀɪŋ/

[edit] Verb

spring

  1. Imperative singular of springen.
  2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of springen.

[edit] Scots

[edit] Pronunciation

  • IPA: [sprɪŋ]

[edit] Noun

spring (plural springs)

  1. spring, springtime
  2. growth of vegetation in springtime

[edit] Verb

tae spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springin, simple past sprang, past participle sprung)

  1. to spring
  2. to leap over, cross at a bound
  3. to put forth, send up or out
  4. to burst, split, break apart, break into
  5. to dance a reel

[edit] Swedish

[edit] Noun

spring n.

  1. a running (back and forth)
    Eftermiddagen tillbragtes med att ordna sakerna, och när springet och släpet och hamrandet var förbi, inbjödos damerna att beskåda anstalten.
    The afternoon was spent in arranging things, and when the running and lugging and hammering was over, the ladies were invited to behold the institution.

[edit] Declension

Declension of spring
uncountable uncountable
Neuter indefinite definite
nominative spring springet
genitive springs springets

[edit] Verb

spring

  1. imperative of springa.
Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=spring&oldid=16217368"
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