n. [ AS. spring a fountain, a leap. See Spring, v. i. ] 1. A leap; a bound; a jump. [ 1913 Webster ]

The prisoner, with a spring, from prison broke. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by its elasticity; as, the spring of a bow. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Elastic power or force. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heavens! what a spring was in his arm! Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Any source of supply; especially, the source from which a stream proceeds; an 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 right and honor streams.” Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Any active power; that by which action, or motion, is produced or propagated; cause; origin; motive. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our author shuns by vulgar springs to move
The hero's glory, or the virgin's love. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. That which causes one to spring; specifically, a lively tune. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Spring of the astronomical year begins with the vernal equinox, about March 21st, and ends with the summer solstice, about June 21st. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. The time of growth and progress; early portion; first stage; as, the spring of life. “The spring of the day.” 1 Sam. ix. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]

O how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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) (Zool.) A small, elegant American butterfly (Erora laeta) 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 (Zool.), 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 (Zool.), a caddice fly; -- so called because it appears in the spring. --
Spring grass (Bot.), vernal grass. See under Vernal. --
Spring gun, a firearm discharged 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly; as, to spring a surprise on someone; to spring a joke. [ 1913 Webster ]

She starts, and leaves her bed, and springs a light. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

The friends to the cause sprang a new project. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To release (a person) from confinement, especially from a prison. [ colloquial ] [ PJC ]

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
To spring a spar (Naut.), to strain it so that it is unserviceable. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. Sprang r 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. spe`rchesqai to hasten. Cf. Springe, Sprinkle. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To leap; to bound; to jump. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mountain stag that springs
From height to height, and bounds along the plains. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot. [ 1913 Webster ]

And sudden light
Sprung through the vaulted roof. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert. [ 1913 Webster ]

Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring. Otway. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Till well nigh the day began to spring. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. Job xxxviii. 27. [ 1913 Webster ]

Do not blast my springing hopes. Rowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

O, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ They found ] new hope to spring
Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To grow; to thrive; to prosper. [ 1913 Webster ]

What makes all this, but Jupiter the king,
At whose command we perish, and we spring? Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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
To spring upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. espringale; of Teutonic origin, akin to E. spring. ] An ancient military engine for casting stones and arrows by means of a spring. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Scot. springald, springel, fr. Scot. & E. spring. ] An active, springy young man. [ Obs. ] “There came two springals of full tender years.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Joseph, when he was sold to Potiphar, that great man, was a fair young springall. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An elastic board, secured at the ends, or at one end, often by elastic supports, used in performing feats of agility or in exercising. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖ } n. [ D. springbok; springen to spring, leap + bok a he-goat, buck. ] (Zool.) A South African gazelle (Gazella euchore) noted for its graceful form and swiftness, and for its peculiar habit of springing lightly and suddenly into the air. It has a white dorsal stripe, expanding into a broad patch of white on the rump and tail. Called also springer. [ Written also springboc, and springbock. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Spring, v. i.: cf. G. sprenkel, Prov. E. springle. ] A noose fastened to an elastic body, and drawn close with a sudden spring, whereby it catches a bird or other animal; a gin; a snare. [ 1913 Webster ]

As a woodcock to mine own springe. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OE. sprengen. See Sprinkle. ] To sprinkle; to scatter. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He would sowen some difficulty,
Or springen cockle in our cleane corn. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To catch in a springe; to insnare. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]