# sprint

Pronunciation: US say "SPRINT" /spɹɪnt/; UK

## Noun

1. A short race in which competitors go at top speed.
   - Simple: A short race where you go as fast as you can.
   - _The 200-meter sprint is the last event of the afternoon._
   - _The swimmer who struggled over long distances found her strength in the sprints._
3. A sudden burst of speed or of activity.
   - Simple: A short time when you suddenly go much faster or work much harder.
   - _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._
4. A fixed period of development work in Agile software development, with meetings held before it starts and after it ends.
   - Simple: In one way of building software, a set length of time for work, with meetings before and after.
   - _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._

## Verb

2. To run, cycle or otherwise move at top speed for a short period.
   - Simple: To run, ride a bike, or move as fast as you can for a short time.
   - _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._

## Origin

An alteration of earlier sprent ("to leap, bound, dart"), from Northern Middle English sprenten, from Old Norse *sprenta, from Proto-Germanic *sprantijaną, a causative of *sprintaną ("to jump up, bounce"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sper- ("to twitch, flinch, jump, be quick"). It is related to Middle High German sprenzen ("to sprinkle, splash"), Swedish spritta ("to startle") and Icelandic spretta ("to spring forth").

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