mainspringn.
/ˈmeɪnsprɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈmeɪnˌsprɪŋ/ 1.
a. The principal spring in a mechanism, esp. a watch or clock. Also figurative.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > part(s) of
nut1428
peise1428
plumbc1450
Jack1498
clockwork1516
larum1542
Jack of the clockhouse1563
watch-wheel1568
work1570
plummeta1578
Jack of the clock1581
snail-cam1591
snail-work1591
pointer1596
quarter jack1604
mainspring1605
winder1606
notch-wheel1611
fusee1622
count-wheel1647
jack-wheel1647
frame1658
arbor1659
balance1660
fuse1674
hour-figure1675
stop1675
pallet1676
regulator1676
cock1678
movement1678
detent1688
savage1690
clock1696
pinwheel1696
starred wheel1696
swing-wheel1696
warning-wheel1696
watch1696
watch-part1696
hoop-wheel1704
hour-wheel1704
snail1714
step-wheel1714
tide-work1739
train1751
crutch1753
cannon pinion1764
rising board1769
remontoire1774
escapement1779
clock jack1784
locking plate1786
scapement1789
motion work1795
anchor escapement1798
scape1798
star-wheel1798
recoil escapement1800
recoiling pallet1801
recoiling scapement1801
cannon1802
hammer-tail1805
recoiling escapement1805
bottle jack1810
renovating spring1812
quarter-boy1815
pin tooth1817
solar wheel1819
impulse-teeth1825
pendulum wheel1825
pallet arbor1826
rewinder1826
rack hook1829
snail-wheel1831
quarter bell1832
tow1834
star pulley1836
watch train1838
clock train1843
raising-piece1843
wheelwork1843
gravity escapement1850
jumper1850
vertical escapement1850
time train1853
pin pallet1860
spade1862
dead well1867
stop-work1869
ringer1873
strike-or-silent1875
warning-piece1875
guard-pin1879
pendulum cock1881
warning-lever1881
beat-pin1883
fusee-piece1884
fusee-snail1884
shutter1884
tourbillion1884
tumbler1884
virgule1884
foliot1899
grasshopper1899
grasshopper escapement1899
trunk1899
pin lever1908
clock spring1933
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. vii. 236 God's the maine spring, that maketh euery way All the small wheeles of this great Engine play.
1765 T. Mudge Thoughts on Means improving Watches 12 The Wheel that communicates the Force of the Main-Spring to the Ballance.
1830 H. Kater & D. Lardner Treat. Mechanics xiv. 195 In watches and portable chronometers,..a spiral spring, called the mainspring, is the moving power.
1869 H. M. Noad Lect. Electr. 381 Levers are released, and the machinery of the telegraph worked by mainsprings, are [sic] left free to rotate.
1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 165 Main Spring Hook..Main Spring Punch..Main Spring Winder.
1915 V. Woolf Voy. Out x. 144 The morning was hot, and the exercise of reading left her mind contracting and expanding like the mainspring of a clock.
1962 E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches 108 The mainspring made the portable clock and the watch possible.
1976 P. de Vries I hear Amer. Swinging i. 10 What makes one marriage tick for life while the mainspring on another goes in six months?
b. The spring which drives the hammer or striker in a gunlock. Also figurative.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > lock > hammer > hammer-spring
mainspringa1640
hammer-spring1823
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Custome of Countrey iii. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Bb2v/2 Hee's foule i'th touch-hole; and recoiles againe, The main Spring's weakned that holds up his cock.
1805 M. Lewis Jrnl. 10 June in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1987) IV. 275 Shields renewed the main Spring of my air gun.
1824 P. Hawker Instr. Young Sportsmen (ed. 3) 42 The mainspring to be well regulated should at first pull up very hard.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth vi, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 154 How now, Smith, is thy mainspring rusted.
1844 Queen's Regulations & Orders Army 96 (note) One Main-Spring Cramp.
1892 W. W. Greener Breech-loader 32 When the gun is fired the ‘travel’ of the mainspring is utilised as an automatically acting trigger.
1907 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. (ed. 8) 144 If the mainspring [of the lock]..is placed before the tumbler, it is ‘front action’ or ‘bar’.
1969 F. Wilkinson Antique Firearms xv. 236 To remove the mainspring..the lock was put to full cock and the mainspring..clamp held the spring compressed.
1992 Guns Illustr. (ed. 24) 241/2 Features: V-type mainspring; hooked breech; 1:18 twist.
2. figurative. The chief motive power; the main incentive.
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the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [noun] > reason or ground
achesounc1230
anchesouna1250
reasona1250
groundc1275
matter1340
purposec1350
cause1413
quarrel1476
actiona1500
subject1577
spring of action1583
qualitya1586
inducement1593
place1593
theme1594
instance1597
motive1605
impulsivea1628
justifiera1635
foundation1641
rise1641
plummet1679
mainspring1695
the mind > will > motivation > [noun] > motive > general or fundamental
principle?1533
principe?1566
master-springa1586
basea1616
mainspring1695
1695 J. Miller Descr. New York (1843) 30 It being proposed that the bishop himself who shall be sent over be the main-spring and mover in this work.
?1753 in B. Franklin Papers (1961) IV. 481 The hope of becoming at some time of Life free from the necessity of care and Labour, together with fear of penury, are the main-springs of most peoples industry.
1799 Ld. Nelson Let. 21 Apr. in Dispatches & Lett. (1846) VII. Add. p. clxxx I am here the mainspring which keeps all things in proper train.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IX lxxiii. 41 Some heathenish philosophers Make love the Main Spring of the Universe.
1850 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire I. i. 25 The cupidity which animated individuals was..the mainspring of the political factions of the time.
1888 J. W. Burgon Lives Twelve Good Men II. x. 287 Truth..was the very mainspring..which actuated everything he thought, or said, or did.
1917 L. Curtis Let. 6 Apr. in Papers Princ. Dyarchy (1920) iii. 105 Self-government in any large country thus involves the operation of two authorities with separate mainsprings side by side.
1956 E. Fromm Art of Loving ii. 31 The longing to know ourselves..is the mainspring of all psychology.
1986 D. Prater Ringing Glass i. 9 Rilke..stressed as the mainspring of his misery his increasing isolation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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