spring
/ˈspɹɪŋ/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms springs springing sprang sprung springed
- verb (intransitive) To move or burst forth. “The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.”
- verb To appear.
- verb To grow, to sprout.
- verb (UK dialectal) To mature.
- verb (figurative) To arise, to come into existence.
- verb (sometimes figurative) To enliven. “He hit the gas and the car sprang to life.”
- verb (figurative, usually with cardinal adverbs) To move with great speed and energy. “Deer spring with their hind legs, using their front hooves to steady themselves.”
- verb (usually with from) To be born, descend, or originate from “He sprang from peasant stock.”
- noun (countable) An act of springing: a leap, a jump.
- noun (countable, uncountable) The season of the year in temperate regions in which temperatures and daylight hours rise, and plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life. “Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.”
- noun (astronomy) The period from the moment of vernal equinox (around March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere) to the moment of the summer solstice (around June 21); the equivalent periods reckoned in other cultures and calendars. “Chinese New Year always occurs in January or February but is called the "Spring Festival" throughout East Asia because it is reckoned as the beginning of their spring.”
- noun (meteorology) The three months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere. “I spent my spring holidays in Morocco.”
- noun (uncountable, figurative) The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.
- noun (figurative, politics) A period of political liberalization and democratization. “Arab Spring”
- noun (countable, fashion) Someone with ivory or peach skin tone and eyes and hair that are not extremely dark, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
- noun (geology) A spray or body of water springing from the ground. “This beer was brewed with pure spring water.”
- verb (intransitive) To spend the springtime somewhere.
- proper noun (countable) A surname.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Harris County, Texas, United States.
- proper noun A village and commune of Alba County, Romania.
Synonyms
arise form take shape bound jump leap free let out release spring loose jailbreak springtime fount source bounce bounciness elasticity resilience springiness impetus fountain outflow outpouring natural spring give leaping saltation take form resile take a hop
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”), from *sperǵʰ- (“to hurry”).
* Saterland Frisian springe
* West Frisian springe
* German Low German springen
* Icelandic springa (“to burst, explode”).
Other possible cognates include Lithuanian spreñgti (“to push (in)”), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin, to stretch”), Latin spargere (“to sprinkle, to scatter”), Ancient Greek σπέρχω (spérkhō, “to hasten”), Sanskrit स्पृहयति (spṛháyati, “to be eager”). Some newer senses derived from the noun.
From Middle English spryng (“a wellspring, tide, branch, sunrise, kind of dance or blow, ulcer, snare, flock”); partly from Old English spring (“wellspring, ulcer”), from Proto-West Germanic *spring, from Proto-Germanic *springaz (“a wellspring, fount”); and partly from Old English spryng (“a jump”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprungi, from Proto-Germanic *sprungiz (“a jump”). Further senses derived from the verb and from clippings of day-spring, springtime, spring tide, etc. Its sense as the season, first attested in a work predating 1325, gradually replaced Middle English lenten, lente, from Old English lencten (“spring, Lent”) as that word became more specifically liturgical. Compare fall.
Unadapted borrowing from Romanian Șpring.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To leap; to bound; to jump.
- verb To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot.
- verb 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.
- verb To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly.
Etymology [AS. springan; akin to D. & G. springen, OS. & OHG. springan, Icel. & Sw. springa, Dan. springe; cf. Gr. Springe, Sprinkle.]
Etymology [AS. spring a fountain, a leap. See Spring, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “spring”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details