sprint

Pluralsprints

Formssprints, sprinting, sprinted

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A short race in which competitors go at top speed.

   The 200-meter sprint is the last event of the afternoon.

   The swimmer who struggled over long distances found her strength in the sprints.

   Similardash

   Note

   The word began with a leap rather than a race: it reshapes earlier sprent, "to leap, bound, dart," which reached Northern Middle English from Old Norse. That sudden spring still shows in a burst of activity, and racing kept the speed while dropping the jump.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To run, cycle or otherwise move at top speed for a short period.

   The moment the gate swung open, the prisoners sprinted for the tree line.

   Riders who sprint the final kilometer often win the stage by a wheel's length.

   Similardash, race, bolt, rush, tear

   Oppositestroll, amble

   Note

   Its past is plain sprinted: in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1912) a man who broke away from his guard sprinted for the camp. Sprant is a joke form, said for comic effect and kept out of ordinary writing. The verb can also take the stretch it covers as an object, so riders sprint the final kilometer.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A sudden burst of speed or of activity.

   The marathon leader found the energy for a final sprint down the last straightaway.

   The novelist finished the last three chapters in one furious sprint of writing.

   Similarspurt, burst, dash, rush

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A fixed period of development work in Agile software development, with meetings held before it starts and after it ends.

   The team works in two-week sprints, so new features reach users every other Friday.

   The login feature slipped into the next sprint after testing turned up a security flaw.

   Similariteration

   Note

   Agile teams borrowed the runner's word for a short, all-out effort and made it a unit of the calendar: work is planned in sprints of a fixed length, and a feature that misses one slips into the next. The meetings around it have names of their own: sprint planning opens the period, and a review and a retrospective close it.

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