# spring

Pronunciation: say "SPRING" /spɹɪŋ/

## Noun

1. The season in temperate regions when temperatures and daylight hours rise, plants come into bloom, and dormant animals become active again.
   - Simple: The season between winter and summer, when the weather gets warmer and plants start to grow.
   - _Migratory birds return to the northern lakes each spring._
   - _Spring arrived late this year, delaying planting for local farmers._
2. An elastic mechanical part, often coiled but sometimes flat or curved, that exerts force and returns toward its original shape when bent, compressed, or stretched.
   - Simple: A bendy part, often a coil of metal, that goes back to its shape after you press, bend or stretch it.
   - _The mechanic replaced a worn spring in the car's suspension._
   - _Mattress makers test their springs by compressing them thousands of times._
3. A point where groundwater flows naturally out of the earth, forming a spray or body of water.
   - Simple: A place where water comes up out of the ground by itself.
   - _The town was founded beside a natural spring that never ran dry._
   - _Hot springs in the valley attract visitors throughout the winter._
7. A time when political freedoms expand and a country moves toward democratic government.
   - Simple: A time when a country becomes more free and people get more rights.
   - _The country's spring saw opposition parties legalized and political prisoners released._
   - _Many of the newspapers that flourished during the brief democratic spring were shut down within weeks of the coup._
8. A sudden leap or jump; a single act of leaping from a position.
   - Simple: A quick jump, especially one that starts suddenly.
   - _The leopard's spring carried it onto the low branch in an instant._
   - _The dancer crossed the stage in a series of light springs._
13. Elastic energy, power, or force; springiness.
   - Simple: The power in something that lets it bounce back after you press or bend it.
   - _A pole-vaulter relies on the spring of the fiberglass pole to clear the bar._
   - _After twenty years, the sofa cushions had lost all their spring and sank whenever anyone sat down._
14. The period during which something develops, or the opening phase of a process.
   - Simple: The early time of something, when it is new and still growing.
   - _Poets often describe youth as the spring of life._
   - _The company was founded in the spring of the internet age, when everything seemed possible._
16. The source or origin from which an action, feeling, or supply arises.
   - Simple: The starting point or cause of something.
19. Ellipsis of spring tide: a tide of unusually large range that occurs around the new and full moon.
   - Simple: Short for spring tide. A tide near a new or full moon, with higher highs and lower lows than usual.
   - _Around the full moon we anchor well offshore, because a big spring can leave the inner bay almost dry at low water._
   - _In this narrow channel the current can run nearly twice as fast at springs as it does at neaps._
23. A slang term for an erection of the penis. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A slang word for an erect penis.

## Verb

4. To jump or move suddenly and energetically, as by leaping, bursting out, or jumping over something.
   - Simple: To jump or move suddenly and quickly, or to burst out.
   - _Water sprang from the broken pipe and flooded the basement._
   - _Startled pheasants spring from the tall grass when hikers walk past._
5. To appear or come into existence suddenly, often unexpectedly.
   - Simple: To appear or start to exist suddenly.
   - _Rumors spring up quickly in a small town._
   - _Within months of the gold strike, dozens of tent towns had sprung up along the river._
6. To be born of, descend from, or originate in a particular source or lineage.
   - Simple: To come from a family, place, or starting point.
   - _Both candidates spring from working-class families in the same county._
   - _Jazz sprang from a blend of African rhythms and European harmony._
9. To pay or spend a certain sum; to yield up money, often for a treat or an upgrade.
   - Simple: To pay an amount of money for something, often as a treat.
   - _The company finally sprang for faster laptops after staff had complained for months._
   - _On long flights she likes to spring for extra legroom, insisting her knees are worth it._
10. To tell or share something suddenly and unexpectedly, often catching the listener off guard.
   - Simple: To tell someone something suddenly, without warning them first.
   - _He sprang the announcement on the staff at the end of the meeting._
   - _Managers shouldn't spring major changes on a team without warning._
11. To free someone from imprisonment, especially by helping arrange an illegal escape. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: To get someone out of jail or prison, often by breaking the rules.
   - _The crew planned to spring their boss from the federal penitentiary._
   - _Her lawyer found a loophole and sprang her within a week._
12. To grow or sprout, as a plant emerging from the soil.
   - Simple: To start to grow, like a plant coming up from the ground.
   - _Wildflowers spring from the hillside meadows each May._
   - _Weeds had sprung up between the paving stones while the house sat empty all summer._
15. To cause a mechanism, such as a trap or lock, to operate or open by sudden pressure.
   - Simple: To make a trap or lock work suddenly by pressing or pulling it.
   - _A raccoon sprang the trap during the night without getting caught._
   - _Thieves can spring older locks with little more than a screwdriver._
17. To become lively or animated; to fill with energy and activity.
   - Simple: To suddenly become full of life and energy.
   - _Markets along the river spring to life at dawn as vendors set out their stalls._
   - _Conversation around the table finally sprang to life when dessert arrived._
20. To fly apart violently; to explode or shatter.
   - Simple: To break apart or blow up suddenly into pieces.
21. Of wood or a structure, to warp, bend, or crack under strain.
   - Simple: To bend out of shape or crack because of too much pressure.
   - _The barn door had sprung in the damp weather and no longer closed flush._
   - _After years of heavy winter snow, the barn's old roof beams had sprung, and the ridge sagged in the middle._
22. To come upon a hidden animal and cause it to flush out into the open.
   - Simple: To find an animal that is hiding and make it run or fly out.
   - _The spaniel sprang a pheasant at the edge of the cornfield._
   - _Beaters walk through the heather to spring grouse for the waiting guns._

## Verb

18. To equip with springs, especially to fit a vehicle with a suspension. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To put metal springs on something, like a car, so it rides smoothly.
   - _The sedan is sprung firmly enough to feel steady in fast corners, yet the ride never turns harsh._
   - _Coachbuilders used to spring carriages on steel leaves to spare passengers the worst of the road._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A line used to check or regulate a vessel's motion, led to the anchor cable from the bow, stern, or side.
- (verb) To reach full growth or ripeness.
- (verb) To be raised to a higher class or a higher military grade.
- (verb) Of a stallion, to mate with a mare and get her in foal.
- (verb) To make something damp, as by sprinkling it.
- (verb) Of a military mine or charge, to be set off and explode.
- (verb) To discover someone doing something illicit or compromising.
- (verb) To start or set in, as day does at dawn.
- (verb) To pass counterfeit coins or bills, getting fakes to change hands.
- (verb) To get out of prison, especially by breaking out unlawfully.
- (verb) To build an arch from its starting point, forming the first part of its curve.
- (verb) Of an arch or vault, to rise from its support in a curve.
- (verb) To pivot a ship by hauling on a line made fast to the anchor cable.
- (verb) To bid higher than a price already put forward.
- (verb) To twist and injure a joint such as an ankle or wrist.
- (verb) To injure a muscle or other body part by overstretching or overworking it.
- (verb) To fire someone with enthusiasm or spur them into action.
- (verb) Of a female animal nearing birth, to become full and distended with milk or young.
- (verb) To make a rattle sound, as watchmen and police once did to raise an alarm.
- (verb) Of livestock or wild animals, to find adequate grazing in the season after winter.
- (noun) The astronomical season running from the vernal equinox, about March 21 north of the equator, to the summer solstice, or similar periods in other calendars.
- (noun) The meteorological season made up of March through May north of the equator, or the months from September through November south of it.
- (noun) In seasonal color analysis, a person whose skin is light, ivory or peachy, with medium or light hair and eyes, thought to look best in certain shades.
- (noun) The swelling of seawater as the tide comes in to its highest point.
- (noun) A mooring line run from one end of a ship to the far end of a neighboring ship or mooring to limit its movement.
- (noun) A family line or ancestry.
- (noun) A young person.
- (noun) A young shoot or sapling.
- (noun) A small wood or copse.
- (noun) A split that opens under strain in a ship's mast or spar, or sometimes in its planking or seams.
- (noun) The underlying reason or driving force behind something.
- (noun) A lively tune, especially a quick dance tune.
- (verb) To spend the season after winter in a particular place.

## Origin

**Meanings 4–6, 9–12, 15, 17–18, 20–22** — Old English springan, meaning to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, or emerge, became Middle English springen. Earlier it goes back through Proto-Germanic *springaną ("to burst forth") to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to move, race, or spring. A few newer meanings were taken from the noun.
**Meanings 1–3, 7–8, 13–14, 16, 19, 23** — From Middle English spryng, which joined Old English spring ('wellspring') and spryng ('a jump'); other senses came from the verb and from shortenings of day-spring, springtime and spring tide. As the season's name, recorded before 1325, it slowly replaced lenten ('spring, Lent') once that word narrowed to the Church season.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/spring (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).