SPRING, v.i. pret. sprung, [sprang, not wholly obsolete;] pp. sprung.

1. To vegetate and rise out of the ground; to begin to appear; as vegetables. To satisfy the desolate ground, and cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. – Job xxxviii. In this sense, spring is often or usually followed by up, forth, or out.
2. To begin to grow. The teeth of the young not sprung. – Ray.
3. To proceed, as from the seed or cause. Much more good of sin shall spring. – Milton.
4. To arise; to appear; to begin to appear or exist. When the day began to spring, they let her go. – Judges xxi. Do not blast my springing hopes. – Rowe.
5. To break forth; to issue into sight or notice. O spring to light; auspicious babe, be born. – Pope.
6. To issue or proceed, as from ancestors or from a country. Aaron and Moses sprung from Levi.
7. To proceed from a cause; reason; principle, or other original. The noblest title springs from virtue. They found new hope to spring / Out of despair. – Milton.
8. To grow; to thrive. What makes all this but Jupiter the king, / At whose command we perish and we spring. – Dryden.
9. To proceed or issue, as from a fountain or source. Water springs from reservoirs the earth. Rivers spring from lakes or ponds.
10. To leap; to bound; to jump. The mountain stag that springs / From highth to highth, and bounds along the plains. – Philips.
11. To fly, back; to start; as, a bow when bent, springs back by its elastic power.
12. To start or rise suddenly from a covert. Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring. – Olway.
13. To shoot; to issue with speed and violence. And sudden light / Sprung through the vaulted roof. – Dryden.
14. To bend or wind from a straight direction or plane surface. Our mechanics say, a piece of timber or a plank springs in seasoning. To spring at, to leap toward; to attempt to reach by a leap. To spring in, to rush in; to enter with a leap or in haste. To spring forth, to leap out; to rush out. To spring on or upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault.

1. To start or rouse, as game; to cause to rise from the earth or from a covert; as, to spring a pheasant.
2. To produce quickly or unexpectedly. The nurse, surpris'd with fright / Starts up and leaves her bed, and springs a light. – Dryden. [I have never heard such an expression.]
3. To start; to contrive, or to produce, or propose on a sudden; to produce unexpectedly. The friends to the cause sprang a new project. – Swift. [In lieu of spring, the people in the United States generally use start; to start a new project.]
4. To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine. – Addison.
5. To burst; to cause to open; as, to spring a leak. When it is said, a vessel has sprung a leak, the meaning is, the leak has then commenced.
6. To crack; as, to spring a mast or a yard.
7. To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap; as, to spring a trap. To spring a butt, in seaman's language, to loosen the end of a plank in a ship's bottom. To spring a leak, to commence leaking; to begin to leak. To spring the luff, when a vessel yields to the helm, and sails nearer to the wind than before. – Mar. Dict. To spring a fence, for to leap a fence, is not a phrase used in this country. – Thomson. To spring an arch, to set off, begin, or commence an arch from an abutment or pier.

1. A leap; a bound; a jump; as of an animal. The pris'ner with a spring from prison broke. – Dryden.
2. A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by its elasticity; as, the spring of a bow.
3. Elastic power or force. The soul or the mind requires relaxation that it may recover its natural spring. Heav'ns! what a spring was in his arm. – Dryden.
4. An elastic body; a body which, when bent or forced from its natural state, has the power of recovering it; as, the spring of a watch or clock.
5. Any active power; that by which action or motion is produced or propagated. Like nature letting down the springs of life. – Dryden. Our author shuns by vulgar springs to move / The hero's glory. – Pope.
6. A fountain of water; an issue of water from the earth, or the basin of water at the place of its issue. Springs are temporary or perennial. From springs proceed rivulets, and rivulets united form rivers. Lakes and ponds are usually fed by springs.
7. The place where water usually issues from the earth, though no water is there. Thus we say, a spring is dry.
8. A source; that from which supplies are drawn. The real Christian has in his own breast a perpetual and inexhaustible spring of joy. The sacred spring whence right and honor stream. – Davies.
9. Rise; original; as, the spring of the day. – 1 Sam. ix.
10. Cause; original. The springs of great events are often concealed from common observation.
11. The season of the year when plants begin to vegetate and rise; the vernal season. This season comprehends the months of March, April, and May, in the middle latitudes north of the equator.
12. In seamen's language, a crack in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely. [In the sense of leak, I believe, it is not used.]
13. A rope passed out of a ship's stern, and attached to a cable proceeding from her bow, when she is at anchor. It is intended to bring her broadside to bear upon some object. A spring is also a rope extending diagonally from the stern of one ship to the head of another, to make one ship sheer off to a greater distance. – Mar. Dict.
14. A plant; a shoot; a young tree. [Not in use.] – Spenser.
15. A youth. [Not in use.] – Spenser.
16. A hand; a shoulder of pork, [not in use.] – Beaum.

1. To leap; to bound; to jump.
   
   

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

2. 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.
3. A leap; a bound; a jump.
   
   

   The prisoner, with a spring, from prison broke. Dryden.

4. To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot.
   
   

   And sudden light
   Sprung through the vaulted roof. Dryden.

5. To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly.
   
   

   She starts, and leaves her bed, amd springs a light. Dryden.

   The friends to the cause sprang a new project. Swift.

6. A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by elasticity; as, the spring of a bow.
7. To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert.
   
   

   Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring. Otway.

8. To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine.
9. Elastic power or force.
   
   

   Heavens! what a spring was in his arm! Dryden.

10. To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.
11. To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard.
12. 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.
    
    

    * 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.

13. To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped; as, a piece of timber, or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning.
14. To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap.
15. Any source of supply; especially, the source from which a stream proceeds; as 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 and honor streams." Sir J. Davies.
16. 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.
    
    

    Till well nigh the day began to spring. Chaucer.

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

    Do not blast my springing hopes. Rowe.

    O, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born. Pope.

17. 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.
18. Any active power; that by which action, or motion, is produced or propagated; cause; origin; motive.
    
    

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

19. To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle.
    
    

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

20. To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence.
    
    

    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 spar (Naut.), to strain it so that it is unserviceable.

21. That which springs, or is originated, from a source;
    
    
    as: (a)
22. To grow; to prosper.
    
    

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

    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 upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault.

23. That which causes one to spring; specifically, a lively tune.
    
    
    [Obs.] Beau. *** Fl.
24. 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.

    * Spring of the astronomical year begins with the vernal equinox, about March 21st, and ends with the summer solstice, about June 21st.

25. The time of growth and progress; early portion; first stage.
    
    
    "The spring of the day." 1 Sam. ix. 26.

    O how this spring of love resembleth
    The uncertain glory of an April day. Shak.

26. A crack or fissure in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely.
    
    
    (b)