# spring
## English

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### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: sprĭng, IPA: /spɹɪŋ/
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪŋ

### Etymology 1

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 *sper- (“to jerk, twitch, snap, shove”).
* Saterland Frisian springe
* West Frisian springe
* Dutch springen
* German Low German springen
* German springen
* Danish springe
* Swedish springa
* Norwegian springe
* Faroese springa
* 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.

#### Verb

spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springing, simple past sprang or sprung, past participle sprung)
* (intransitive) To move or burst forth.
** c. 1540, Livy, translated by John Bellenden, History of Rome, Vol. I, i, xxii, p. 125:...þe wound þat was springand with huge stremes of blude...
    The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.
** To appear.
*** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 19:25:...so the man tooke his concubine, and brought her foorth vnto them, and they knew her, and abused her all the night vntil the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her goe.
*** 1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:Home I would go, But that my Dores are hatefull to my eyes. Fill'd and damm'd up with gaping Creditors, Watchfull as Fowlers when their Game will ſpring; […]
** To grow, to sprout.
*** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 38:25–27:Who hath diuided a water-course for the ouerflowing of waters? or a way for the lightning of thunder, To cause it to raine on the earth, where no man is: on the wildernesse wherein there is no man? To satisfie the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herbe to spring forth.
*** 1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Canto V”, in Queen Mab; […], London: […] P. B. Shelley, […], →OCLC, page 61:Commerce! beneath whose poison-breathing shade No solitary virtue dares to spring, […]
*** 1936, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 42:Dr. Sigmund Freud... says that everything you and I do springs from two motives: the sex urge and the desire to be great.
*** 1974, James Albert Michener, Centennial, page 338:There was moisture in the ground, and from it sprang a million flowers, gold and blue and brown and red.
*** 2006, N. Roberts, Morrigann's Cross, section VI:Foxglove sprang tall and purple among the trees.
*** (UK dialectal) To mature.
** (figurative) To arise, to come into existence.
    Synonyms: arise, form, take shape
** (sometimes figurative) To enliven.
    He hit the gas and the car sprang to life.
** (figurative, usually with cardinal adverbs) To move with great speed and energy.
    Synonyms: bound, jump, leap
    Deer spring with their hind legs, using their front hooves to steady themselves.
*** c. 1250, Life of St Margaret, Trin. Col. MS B.14.39 (323), f. 22v:
    ...into helle spring...
*** 1474, William Caxton, transl., Game and Playe of the Chesse, iii, vii, 141:Ye kynge... sprange out of his chare and resseyuyd them worshipfully.
*** 1722, Ambrose Philips, The Briton:...the Mountain Stag, that springs From Height to Height, and bounds along the Plains, Nor has a Master to restrain his Course...
*** 1827, Clement Clarke Moore, (A Visit from St. Nicholas):...out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
*** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
*** 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes:Thus she advanced; her belly low, almost touching the surface of the ground—a great cat preparing to spring upon its prey.
*** 2011 April 11, The Atlantic:Reporters sprang to the conclusion that the speech would make detailed new commitments...
** (usually with from) To be born, descend, or originate from
    He sprang from peasant stock.
*** 2008, George McCandless, The ABCs of RBCs, Harvard University Press, page 7:From this basis, a first-order difference equation for the evolution of capital per worker is found, and the time path of the economy springs from this equation.
** (obsolete) To rise in social position or military rank, to be promoted.
* (transitive) To cause to spring (all senses).
** (of mechanisms) To cause to work or open by sudden application of pressure.
    He sprang the trap.
*** 1625, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes, Vol. II, x, ix:They sprung another Mine... wherein was placed about sixtie Barrels of Powder.
*** 1747, The London Magazine, Or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer:On the 23d, the Besiegers sprung a Mine under the Salient Angle, upon the Right of the Haif Moon, which had the desired Success, the Enemy's Gallery on that Side, and the Mason-Work of the Counterscarp, being thereby demolished.
* (transitive) To leap over.
** 1876, Matilda Leathes, Our village worthies; or, Stories of village life (page 112)
    I sprang the fence, and was soon in the village street.
* (obsolete, of horses) To breed with, to impregnate.
** 1585, Nicolas De Nicolay, translated by Thomas Washington, The Navigations, Peregrinations, and Voyages, Made into Turkie..., Bk. IV, p. 154:...[they] sought the fairest stoned horses to spring their mares...
* (transitive, obsolete) To wet, to moisten.
* (intransitive, now usually with "apart" or "open") To burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter.
** 1698, François Froger, A Relation of a Voyage Made... on the Coasts of Africa, page 30:On the 22nd the mines sprang, and took very good effect.
* (obsolete, military) To go off.
** 2012 April 21, Sydney Morning Herald, page 5:The whole contraption appears liable to spring apart at any moment.
* (ambitransitive, nautical, usually perfective) To crack.
** 1582 August 2, Richard Madox, diary:
    The Edward sprang hir foremast.
* (Can we verify this sense?) (transitive, figurative) To surprise by sudden or deft action.
* To come upon and flush out.
** 1921, Field and Stream, page 832:For generations of men the springer spaniel has been looked upon as the dog for springing pheasants in covert and finding and retrieving dead birds or winged runners when ordered to do so. The properly broken dog will not chase, but drop to wing and shot.
** 1940, Allen A. Day, “Dachsunds for Woodchucks”, in Dwight Williams Huntington, editor, The Game Breeder and Sportsman, page 94:[…] by the beginning of this century a still smaller breed, with a weight of 4 of 5 pounds and a chest measurement of around 12 inches, had come into being for springing rabbits. Such, then, is a rough, quick ancestral picture of our modern Dachshund, and […]
** 2003 August 1, Dennis Walrod, Grouse Hunter's Guide: Solid Facts, Insights, and Observations on How to Hunt Ruffled Grouse, Stackpole Books, →ISBN:I winter, ruffed grouse sometimes roost at night on the ground under the insulating snow. Even during the midday hours, I have often flushed grouse out from under the snow-bowed branches of "buck-brush," the type of environment where a hunter would more likely expect to spring a rabbit or two.
* (Australia, slang) To catch in an illegal act or compromising position.
** 1980, John Hepworth et al., Boozing Out in Melbourne Pubs..., page 42:He figured that nobody would ever spring him, but he figured wrong.
* (obsolete) To begin.
* (obsolete, slang) To put bad money into circulation.
* To tell, to share.
** 2012 February 29, Aidan Foster-Carter, “North Korea: The Denuclearisation Dance Resumes”, in BBC News‎:North Korea loves to spring surprises. More unusual is for its US foe to play along.
    Sorry to spring it on you like this but I've been offered another job.
* (transitive, slang, US) To free from imprisonment, especially by facilitating an illegal escape.
    Synonyms: free, let out, release, spring loose, jailbreak
    His lieutenants hired a team of miners to help spring him.
** 2007, Mike Batt (lyrics and music), “If You Were a Sailboat”, performed by Katie Melua:If I was in jail I know you'd spring me
* (intransitive, slang, rare) To be free of imprisonment, especially by illegal escape.
* (transitive, architecture, of arches) To build, to form the initial curve of.
    They sprung an arch over the lintel.
* (intransitive, architecture, of arches, with "from") To extend, to curve.
    The arches spring from the front posts.
* (transitive, nautical) To turn a vessel using a spring attached to its anchor cable.
* (transitive) To pay or spend a certain sum, to yield.
** 1957, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Over Seventy, page 137:He wouldn't spring a nickel for a bag of peanuts.
* (obsolete, intransitive, slang) To raise an offered price.
* (transitive, US, dialectal) Alternative form of sprain.
* (transitive, US, dialectal) Alternative form of strain.
* (intransitive, obsolete) To act as a spring: to strongly rebound.
* (transitive, rare) To equip with springs, especially (of vehicles) to equip with a suspension.
* (figurative, rare, obsolete) to inspire, to motivate.
* (ambitransitive) To deform owing to excessive pressure, to become warped; to intentionally deform in order to position and then straighten in place.
** 1873 July, Routledge's Young Gentleman's Magazine, page 503:Don't drive it in too hard, as it will ‘spring’ the plane-iron, and make it concave.
    A piece of timber sometimes springs in seasoning.
    He sprang in the slat.
* (intransitive, UK, dialectal, chiefly of cows) To swell with milk or pregnancy.
** 1955, Patrick White, chapter 15, in The Tree of Man‎, New York: Viking, page 228:“Gee, Dad, Nancy’s springing all right,” Ray said and paused in spontaneous pleasure. Stan Parker came, and together they looked at their swelling heifer.
* (transitive, of rattles, archaic) To sound, to play.
** 1850, Samuel Prout Newcombe, Pleasant pages, page 197:I do not know how John and his mistress would have settled the fate of the thief, but just at this moment a policeman entered — for the cook had sprung the rattle, and had been screaming "Murder" and "Thieves."
* (of animals) To find or get enough food during springtime.

##### 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.

##### Synonyms

* (come into being): see also Thesaurus:come into being

##### Derived terms

* hope springs eternal
* outspring
* overspring
* respring
* spring a butt
* spring a leak
* spring an arch
* spring at
* springel
* springer
* spring for
* spring forth
* spring-hare
* spring in
* springing
* spring into action
* spring-jack
* spring-lobster
* spring loose
* spring on
* spring out
* spring the luff
* spring to life
* spring to mind
* spring to somebody's defence
* spring-tree
* spring up
* sprung rhyme
* upspring

##### Related terms

* sprang
* springwort
* sprung
* to-spring
* unspring

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

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 lente, lentin, from Old English lencten (“spring, Lent”) as that word became more specifically liturgical. Compare fall.

#### Noun

spring (countable and uncountable, plural springs)
* (countable) An act of springing: a leap, a jump.
** 1700, John Dryden, The Cock and the Fox‎:The pris'ner with a spring from prison broke; Then stretch'd his feather'd fans with all his might, And to the neighb'ring maple wing'd his flight.
* (countable, uncountable) The season of the year in temperate regions in which plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life.
    Synonym: springtime
    Coordinate terms: summer, autumn or fall, winter
    Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.
    You can visit me in the spring, when the weather is bearable.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXVIII, page 59:No joy the blowing season gives, ⁠The herald melodies of spring, ⁠But in the songs I love to sing A doubtful gleam of solace lives.
** 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 172:Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.
** (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.
** (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.
    The spring issue will be out next week.
* (uncountable, figurative) The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 9:26:...and it came to passe about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house...
** c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:O how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day.
** (figurative, politics) a period of political liberalization and democratization
    Arab Spring
    Prague Spring
* (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.
* (countable) Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly
** (geology) A spray or body of water springing from the ground.
    Synonyms: fount, source
    This beer was brewed with pure spring water.
** (oceanography, obsolete) The rising of the sea at high tide.
** (oceanography) Short for spring tide, the especially high tide shortly after full and new moons.
    Antonym: neap tide
** A mechanical device made of flexible or coiled material that exerts force and attempts to spring back when bent, compressed, or stretched.
    Synonym: coil
    We jumped so hard the bed springs broke.
** (nautical) A line from a vessel's end or side to its anchor cable used to diminish or control its movement.
*** 1836, Frederick Marryat, Mr. Midshipman Easy, volume III, page 72:He had warped round with the springs on his cable, and had recommenced his fire upon the Aurora.
** (nautical) A line laid out from a vessel's end to the opposite end of an adjacent vessel or mooring to diminish or control its movement.
    You should put a couple of springs onto the jetty to stop the boat moving so much.
*** 1769, William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, s.v:Spring is likewise a rope reaching diagonally from the stern of a ship to the head of another which lies along-side or a-breast of her.
*** 2007 January 26, Business Times::‘Springs’ are the ropes used on a ship that is alongside a berth to prevent fore and aft movements.
** (figurative) A race, a lineage.
** (figurative) A youth.
** A shoot, a young tree.
** A grove of trees; a forest.
* (countable, slang) An erection of the penis. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
* (countable, nautical, obsolete) A crack which has sprung up in a mast, spar, or (rare) a plank or seam.
** 1846, Arthur Young, Nautical Dictionary, page 292:A spar is said to be sprung, when it is cracked or split,... and the crack is called a spring.
* (uncountable) Springiness: an attribute or quality of springing, springing up, or springing back, particularly
** Elasticity: the property of a body springing back to its original form after compression, stretching, etc.
    Synonyms: bounce, bounciness, elasticity, resilience, springiness
    the spring of a bow
** Elastic energy, power, or force.
*** 1697, John Dryden, Virgil's Aeneis, Bk. xi, ll. 437–8:
    Heav'ns what a spring was in his Arm, to throw: How high he held his Shield, and rose at ev'ry blow!
*** 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 30:Mrs Durbeyfield, excited by her song, trod the rocker with all the spring that was left in her after a long day's seething in the suds.
* (countable) The source from which an action or supply of something springs.
    Synonyms: impetus, impulse
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 87:7:As wel the singers as the players on instruments shall bee there: all my springs are in thee.
** 1693, The Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism..., Richard Bentley, Sermon 1:Such a man can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth him, he can patiently suffer all things with cheerfull submission and resignation to the Divine Will. He has a secret Spring of spiritual Joy, and the continual Feast of a good Conscience within, that forbid him to be miserable.
** 1748, David Hume, Enquiries Concerning the Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, §9:[…] discover, at least in some degree, the secret springs and principles, by which the human mind is actuated in its operations?
** 1991 September, Stephen Fry, “[Prelude to chapter 1]”, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section, page 1:‘Have you ever contemplated, Adrian, the phenomenon of springs?’ ‘Coils, you mean?’ ‘Not coils, Adrian, no. Coils not. Think springs of water. Think wells and spas and sources. Well-springs in the widest and loveliest sense. Jerusalem, for instance, is a spring of religiosity. One small town in the desert, but the source of the world’s three most powerful faiths. […] Religion seems to bubble from its sands.’
* (countable) Something which causes others or another to spring forth or spring into action, particularly
** A cause, a motive, etc.
*** 1712 (date written), [Alexander] Pope, “Prologue, by Mr. Pope. Spoken by Mr. Wilks.”, in [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC:Our Author ſhuns by vulgar Springs to move / The Hero's Glory, or the Virgin's Love; […]
** (obsolete) A lively piece of music.

##### Usage notes

Note that season names are not capitalized in modern English except where any noun would be capitalized, e.g. at the beginning of a sentence or as part of a name (Old Man Winter, the Winter War, Summer Glau). This is in contrast to the days of the week and months of the year, which are always capitalized (Thursday or September).

##### Synonyms

* (time of growth, early stages): See Thesaurus:beginning

##### Derived terms

* advance spring
* afterspring
* after-spring
* air spring, air-spring
* Alice Springs
* anti-rattle spring
* arc spring
* Arlington Springs Man
* Arlington Springs Woman
* artesian spring
* Augusta Springs
* austral spring
* autumn-spring
* auxiliary spring
* balance spring
* Barton Springs salamander
* Bay Springs
* bedspring
* Beijing Spring
* Belleville spring
* bending spring
* Berber Spring
* Berkeley Springs
* Big Spring
* boiling spring
* border spring
* bow spring
* box spring, box-spring
* brine spring
* brush spring
* buckling spring
* Caballine spring
* Cambridge Springs defence, Cambridge Springs defense
* cantilever spring
* card spring
* Carrizo Springs
* cart spring
* Castle Hot Springs
* cee spring, cee-spring, C spring, c-spring
* Clearspring
* clock spring
* closed spring
* coiled spring sign
* coil spring
* coil spring clutch
* Coldspring, Cold Spring
* Colorado Springs
* compression spring
* contact spring
* Croatian Spring
* cupped spring washer
* Damascus Spring
* damper spring
* day-spring, dayspring
* DeFuniak Springs
* detent ball and spring
* diaphragm spring
* door hold-open spring
* Double Springs
* draw-spring, drawspring
* driving spring
* elliptic spring
* Eureka Springs
* extension spring
* extra spring
* farewell-to-spring
* finger spring
* flat spring
* float bumper spring
* fool's spring
* footsteps-of-spring
* forespring
* forest-spring encephalitis
* full of the joys of spring
* garter spring
* gas spring
* Geuda Springs
* Glenwood Springs
* graduated spring
* Green Cove Springs
* haemoglobin Constant Spring, hemoglobin Constant Spring
* hairspring
* hand-spring, handspring
* harbinger-of-spring
* headspring
* Heber Springs
* helical spring
* helper spring
* Holly Springs
* hot spring
* Hot Spring County
* Hot Springs
* Hot Springs County
* Hot Sulphur Springs
* hydrospring
* Idaho Springs
* Indian spring low water
* innerspring
* inside spring caliper
* Iron Springs
* jagger spring
* Jesus spring
* karstic spring
* karst spring
* Kesling spring
* laminated spring
* land spring
* land-spring
* laspring
* latter spring
* leaf spring, leaf-spring
* Lehman Springs
* lifespring
* locating spring
* loop spring
* mainspring
* Manitou Springs
* master-spring
* mean high water spring
* mean low water spring
* meshing spring
* mid-spring
* mineral spring
* motor spring
* natural spring
* Navajo Springs
* negative spring
* Newberry Springs
* no spring chicken
* offspring
* ofspring
* one swallow does not a spring make
* one swallow does not make a spring
* one swallow doesn't a spring make
* one swallow doesn't make a spring
* open spring
* Operation Spring Awakening
* Operation Spring Cleanup
* Operation Spring of Youth
* outside spring caliper
* outspring
* overload spring
* paddle spring
* Pagosa Springs
* parabolic spring
* Peach Springs
* Pierian Spring
* Pierian spring
* piston spring
* Prague Spring
* progressively wound valve spring
* progressive rate spring
* progressive valve spring
* proxigean spring tide
* rare spring-sedge
* rattle spring
* recoil spring
* restoring spring
* retainer spring tool
* retro-spring
* return spring
* Richland Springs
* Rocksprings
* Russian spring-summer encephalitis
* saddle-spring
* salt spring
* Santa Fe Springs
* Saratoga Springs
* sear spring
* sea-spring
* seepage spring
* semi-elliptic spring
* separating spring
* Sharon Springs
* shoe return spring
* single rate spring
* soda spring
* Soda Springs
* spiral spring
* splayed spring
* spreader spring
* spring-action
* spring ague
* Spring and Autumn
* spring and fall
* spring avens
* spring azure
* spring back, spring-back
* Springbal
* spring balance
* Spring Bank Holiday
* spring bar
* spring barley
* spring-based
* spring baton
* Spring Bay
* spring beam, spring-beam
* spring beating
* spring beating spoon
* spring beauty, spring-beauty
* spring bed
* spring beetle, spring-beetle
* spring-bell
* spring bevel
* spring-biased
* spring binder, spring-binder
* spring-binding
* spring-bladed
* spring-blood
* spring bloom
* spring-board, springboard
* spring bolt
* spring booster
* spring born
* springborne
* spring bow
* spring bows
* spring-box
* spring box
* spring brake
* spring branch, spring-branch
* spring brass
* spring break
* spring breaker
* spring bud
* spring cabbage
* spring cable
* spring cankerworm
* spring cap
* spring-carriage
* spring-cart
* spring catch
* spring channel binder
* spring chicken
* spring choke
* spring clamp
* spring clean
* spring-clean
* spring cleaning
* spring-cleaning
* spring cleavers
* spring clip
* spring clock
* spring clutch
* spring coach
* spring collar
* spring collet
* spring compressor
* spring conjunctivitis
* spring constant
* spring contractor
* spring corn
* spring cress
* spring crocus
* spring crop
* spring crust
* spring dance
* spring dart
* Spring Day
* spring disease
* spring divider
* spring drive
* spring-driven
* spring dwindling
* springed
* spring ephemeral
* spring equation
* spring equinox
* spring eruption
* springet
* spring eye
* spring-fed
* spring feed
* Springfest
* spring festival
* spring fever
* spring field cricket
* spring finger
* springfish
* spring-fitted
* spring-flood
* spring floor
* spring flower
* spring-flowering
* spring fly
* spring force
* springforger
* springform
* springform pan
* spring forward, fall back
* spring fowl
* spring frame
* spring-framed
* spring fret
* spring frog
* spring-froth
* springful
* spring garden
* spring gathered
* spring gauge
* spring gentian
* spring ginger
* spring grass, spring-grass
* spring green
* spring greens
* Spring Grove
* spring growth
* spring gun, spring-gun
* spring hammer
* spring hanger
* spring hare, spring-hare, springhare
* spring-headed
* spring-head, springhead
* spring heath
* spring heel
* spring-heeled
* spring-heeled Jack
* Spring-heeled Jack
* spring herring
* spring hock
* spring-hole
* Spring Holiday
* spring hook
* spring horse
* spring house, spring-house, springhouse
* spring in one's step
* springish
* spring isolator
* spring jack
* spring-jointed
* spring juices
* spring kale
* spring-keeper, springkeeper
* spring-knife
* Spring Lake
* spring lamb
* spring lancet
* spring latch
* spring lathe
* springle
* spring leaf
* springless
* springlet
* spring lettuce
* spring ligament
* spring-like, springlike
* spring lily
* spring line settlement, springline settlement
* spring line, springline
* springling
* spring-load
* spring-loaded
* spring-loaded camming device
* spring-loaded mode
* spring-loading
* spring-locked
* spring lock, spring-lock, springlock
* spring lock washer
* spring maker
* spring-making
* spring-manufacturing
* spring mattress
* spring melt
* spring mix
* spring-mounted
* spring net
* spring of action
* spring of pork
* spring of the leaf
* spring of the sea
* spring of the year
* spring of wood
* spring onion
* spring-operated
* spring ophthalmia
* spring overshoot
* spring overturn
* spring padlock
* Spring Palace
* spring parsley
* spring pasque flower
* spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer)
* spring peering
* spring pin
* spring-pit
* spring planting
* spring plate
* spring ploughing
* spring pocket
* spring pole
* spring-pottage
* spring power
* spring-powered
* Spring Prairie
* spring punch
* spring quillwort
* spring rail
* spring rate
* spring-release
* spring reverb
* spring rider
* spring ring clasp
* spring rocker
* spring roll
* spring roller
* spring root
* spring rope
* spring-run fish
* spring runoff
* spring rye
* spring saddle
* spring sail
* spring salamander
* spring salmon
* spring-salt
* spring saw
* spring scale
* spring scalecap
* spring searcher
* spring seat
* spring seed
* spring shackle
* spring-shaping
* spring-shaw
* spring shoot
* spring shower
* springside
* spring sludge
* spring snow
* spring snowflake
* springs of life
* spring soup
* spring sowing
* spring sown
* spring-spawning
* spring spike
* springspotter
* spring squill
* spring stay
* spring steel
* spring stone
* spring stud
* spring suit
* spring suspension
* spring swamp
* spring sweep
* spring tail, spring-tail, springtail
* spring tapping
* spring-teller
* spring temper
* spring-tempered
* spring term
* spring thaw
* spring tide
* spring-tide, springtide
* spring-tight
* spring tiller
* spring time, spring-time, springtime
* spring tine
* spring-tined
* spring tool
* spring-tooth
* spring training
* spring trap
* spring-tree
* Spring Triangle
* spring-type
* spring-type brake actuator
* spring usher
* spring vacation
* spring valve
* spring vegetable
* spring vetchling
* Springview
* spring violet
* spring wagon
* spring wagtail
* spring washer
* spring watch
* spring-watered
* spring water, spring-water, springwater
* spring-well
* spring wheat
* spring wind
* spring windup
* spring wood, spring-wood, springwood
* spring work
* springy
* Steamboat Springs
* steel spring
* sulfur spring, sulphur spring
* Sulphur Springs
* take one's spring from
* take one's spring out of
* tensioning spring
* tension spring
* thermal spring
* thermostatic spring choke
* The Spring Offensive
* The Spring of Nations
* throttle return spring
* torsion spring
* trailing spring
* truss spring steel
* underspring
* Union Springs
* upholstery coil spring
* uprighting spring
* upspring
* up what spring
* valve spring
* valve spring cap
* valve spring collar
* valve spring compressor
* valve spring depressor
* valve spring lifter
* valve spring retainer
* valve spring seat
* variable rate spring
* variable spring
* vauclusian spring
* vintage spring
* volute spring
* V-spring
* wall spring
* warm spring
* Warm Springs
* watch main spring steel
* watchspring
* water-spring
* wave spring
* Webster Springs
* weeping spring
* well-spring, wellspring
* Wessington Springs
* White Sulphur Springs
* zero-length spring
* Z spring

##### Related terms

* aspring
* atspring
* bespring
* espringal
* rumspringa
* springal, springald
* springboc, springbock, springbok
* springe
* spring-haas, springhaas
* springhalt
* springle

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Verb

spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springing, simple past and past participle springed)
* (intransitive) To spend the springtime somewhere.
** 1835 May, “Northern Germany. A Sketch.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XI, number LXV, page 507:True it is that, owing to the migratory propensities of our countrymen, every third man has wintered at Naples, springed at Vienna, summered in Switzerland, and autumned on the banks of the Lago Maggiore;
** 1912, William C[yrus] Sprague, Tad, the Story of a Boy who Had No Chance, page 2:If Tad’s father and Tad had wintered, springed, summered, and autumned together for an hundred years instead of fifteen they could […]
** 1937, Mortimer Jones, “Lines of No Importance”, in The Alphi Phi Quarterly, page 29:They wintered in a warm place And summered in a cold, But where they springed and autumned I never have been told.
** 1950, Chambers’s Journal, page 269:She springed in London, summered in Stockholm, autumned at Vichy, and wintered at Monte Carlo.
** 2006, Tim Pratt, “The Third-Quarter King”, in Jonathan Strahan, Jeremy G Byrne, editors, Eidolon I, →ISBN, page 2:In recent years his friend the fourth-quarter king summered, autumned, and springed in nearby Southern California, which was how they stayed so easily in touch.
** 2010, Larry Stettner, Bill Morrison, Cooking for the Common Good: The Birth of a Natural Foods Soup Kitchen, Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 84:Larry and Bill had planned to hold a white-linen “fancy” fund-raiser dinner in late June or early July, which would bring out the moneyed crowd who “summered” on the Island. If you summer or winter somewhere you are affluent, Larry knew. (Funny, though, he had never heard of anyone who “autumned” in Vermont or who was “springing” in Colorado.)

##### Translations
### See also

* geyser
* Hooke's law
* seep
* Slinky
* vernal
* well
Seasons in English · seasons (layout · text) · category :
| spring | summer | autumn, fall | winter |

### References

* “spring, n¹.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* “spring, n².”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* “spring, n³.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* “spring, v¹.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* “spring, v².”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
* “spring, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2018.
* “springen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2018.

## Afrikaans
### Etymology

From Dutch springen.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

spring (present spring, present participle springende, past participle gespring)
* to leap, jump

#### Derived terms

* springbok

## Danish
### Etymology

Verbal noun to springe.

### Noun

spring n (singular definite springet, plural indefinite spring)
* (athletics, gymnastics) spring, jump, vault, leap

#### Related terms

* firspring
* højdespring
* længdespring
* springavancement
* springbane
* springbræt
* springkniv
* springmadras
* springvand
* stangspring
* trespring

### Verb

spring
* imperative of springe

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sprɪŋ/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪŋ

### Verb

spring
* inflection of springen:
** first-person singular present indicative
** (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
** imperative

## German
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʃpʁɪŋ/
* Audio:(file)

### Verb

spring
* singular imperative of springen
* (colloquial) first-person singular present of springen

## Icelandic
### Verb

spring
* inflection of springa:
** first-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

## Middle English
### Etymology 1
#### Noun

spring
* Alternative form of spryng

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

spring
* Alternative form of spryngen

## North Frisian
### Alternative forms

* spränge (Mooring)

### Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *springaną.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [sprɪŋ]

### Verb

spring
* (Föhr-Amrum, Sylt) to jump, leap

#### Conjugation
## Norwegian Bokmål
### Verb

spring
* imperative of springe

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Verb

spring
* present of springa

## Old English
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *spring, from Proto-Germanic *springaz

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sprinɡ/, [spriŋɡ]

### Noun

spring m
* a spring (source of water)
* an ulcer, sore, pustule

#### Declension

Strong a-stem:

#### Descendants

* Middle English: spryng, spring, springe, sprung, sprynge
** English: spring
** Scots: spring

## Scots
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [sprɪŋ]

### Noun

spring (plural springs)
* spring, springtime
* growth of vegetation in springtime

### Verb

tae spring (third-person singular simple present springs, present participle springin, simple past sprang, past participle sprung)
* to spring
* to leap over, cross at a bound
* to put forth, send up or out
* to burst, split, break apart, break into
* to dance a reel

## Swedish
### Noun

spring n
* a running (back and forth)
** 1918, Goss-skolan i Plumfield, the Swedish translation of Louisa M. Alcott, Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871)
    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.
    Barnen hade spring i benenThe children had lots of energy ("running in the legs")

#### Declension
### Verb

spring
* imperative of springa

### References

* spring in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* spring in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* spring in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)