spring¹ /spring/

1. To move suddenly, as by elastic force
2. To bound
3. To start up suddenly
4. To break forth
5. To appear
6. To issue
7. To come into being
8. To take origin
9. To sprout
10. To dawn (Bible)
11. To branch off
12. To begin to arch
13. To give way, split, burst, explode, warp, or start
14. (with for) to pay (N American)

1. To cause to spring up
2. To start
3. To release the elastic force of
4. To let off, allow to spring
5. To cause to explode
6. To make known suddenly (with on or upon)
7. (of a leak) to open
8. (of a mast) to crack
9. To bend by force, strain
10. To start from an abutment, etc (architecture)
11. To leap over
12. To set together with bevel-joints
13. To attach or fit with springs
14. To procure the escape of (a prisoner) from jail (slang)

1. A leap
2. A sudden movement
3. A recoil or rebound
4. Elasticity
5. An elastic contrivance usu for setting in motion or for reducing shocks
6. A source of action or life
7. A rise
8. A beginning
9. A cause or origin
10. A source
11. An outflow of water from the earth
12. The time of beginning (Shakespeare)
13. The dawn (Bible)
14. (often with cap) the season of the year when plants spring up and grow, lasting approximately from March to May in the northern hemisphere and from September to November in the southern hemisphere
15. In the astronomical year, the period of time between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice
16. A shoot (obsolete)
17. A youth (Spenser)
18. A copse (obsolete)
19. Undergrowth (Spenser)
20. High water
21. Spring tide
22. A lively dance tune (Scot)
23. A Norwegian dance or dance tune
24. A flock of teal
25. The springing of an arch
26. A split, bend, warp, etc, esp a crack in a mast

1. Of the season of spring
2. Sown, appearing, or used in spring
3. Having or worked by a spring

springˈal or springˈald noun (archaic)

An active young man, a youth

springˈer noun

1. Someone who or something that springs
2. A kind of spaniel, useful in copses
3. The bottom stone of an arch (architecture)
4. A spring chicken (chiefly N American)
5. A springing cow (qv below)
6. A spring salmon

springˈily adverb

springˈiness noun

springˈing noun

1. The act of leaping, sprouting, starting, rising, or issuing
2. The beginning of curvature of an arch
3. A place of branching
4. Providing with springs

1. Leaping
2. Arising
3. Dawning
4. Sprouting
5. With the freshness of youth
6. Resilient
7. Starting
8. Beginning to curve

springˈless adjective

springˈlet noun

A little spring

springˈlike adjective

springˈy adjective

1. Elastic
2. Resilient
3. Abounding with springs. See also sprung

spring balance or (esp N American) spring scale noun

An instrument for weighing by the elasticity of a spiral spring

spring beauty noun

An American flowering plant Claytonia virginica of the purslane family

spring beetle noun

A click beetle

springˈ-bladed adjective

(of a knife) having a blade that springs out on pressure of a button

springˈboard noun

1. A springy board for jumping or diving from
2. Anything which serves as a starting point, or from which one can launch ideas, projects, etc

springˈbok noun

1. A S African antelope, Antidorcas marsupialis, that moves in leaps when alarmed (also springˈbuck)
2. (with cap) a South African international sportsman (from emblems of sporting teams, originally the 1906 rugby team; shortened to Bok)
3. Hence also any South African, esp when overseas

spring box noun

1. A box or barrel in which a spring is coiled
2. The frame of a sofa, etc in which the springs are set

springˈ-carriage, springˈ-cart noun

One mounted on springs

spring chicken noun

1. A young chicken, usu between two and ten months old, particularly tender when cooked (chiefly N American; also springˈer)
2. A young, lively, sometimes naïve, person

spring-cleanˈ transitive verb and noun

springˈ-cleanˈer noun

springˈ-cleanˈing noun

A thorough cleaning (esp of a house), usu in spring

spring clip noun

A spring-loaded clip

spring fever noun

1. Spring lassitude (facetious)
2. Restlessness

springˈform adjective

Denoting a type of baking tin with detachable sides and base, held together by a spring

springˈhaas /-häs/ noun (pl springˈhaas or springˈhase)

(Du haas hare) a S African nocturnal rodent, Pedetes capensis (also called spring hare)

springˈhalt noun (veterinary medicine)

A jerking lameness in which a horse suddenly twitches up its leg or legs (also called stringˈhalt)

spring hare see springhaas above.

springˈhead noun

1. A fountainhead, source
2. A head- or end-piece for a carriage spring

springˈ-heeled adjective

Having springs on one's heels, as in spring-heeled Jack, supposed to do great leaps and play pranks or commit robberies

springˈhouse noun (esp US)

A larder, dairy, etc built over a spring or brook in order to keep the contents cool

springing cow noun

A cow about to calf

springˈkeeper noun

A salamander

spring ligament noun

A ligament of the sole of the foot

spring line noun

1. A mooring line (nautical)
2. One of the strips of rubber, steel or wood inserted in and running down the handle of a cricket bat, hockey stick, etc

spring-loadˈed adjective

Having or operated by a spring

spring lock noun

1. A lock in which the bolt is spring-loaded
2. One that opens when a spring is touched

spring mattress noun

A mattress of spiral springs in a frame

spring onion noun

A type of onion, its small bulb and long leaves being eaten raw in salads

spring peeper noun

A N American tree frog that makes a high-pitched call in spring

spring roll noun

A deep-fried Chinese savoury pancake enclosing a mixture of vegetables, pork, prawns, etc

spring scale see spring balance above.

springˈtail noun

Any member of the Collembola order of primitive, wingless insects

springˈtide noun

Springtime

spring tide noun

1. A tide of maximum amplitude after new and full moon, when the forces of the sun and moon act in the same direction
2. Any great rush or flood (figurative)

springˈtime noun

The season of spring

springˈwater noun

Water of or from a spring

• wastepaper bins
• waste papers
• waste pipe
• waste pipes
• waste product
• waste products
• waster
• wastered
• wasterful
• wasterfully
• wasterfulness
• wasterfulnesses
• wasteries
• wasterife
• wasterifes
• wastering
• wasters
• wastery
• wastes
• wastfull
• wasting
• wasting asset
• wasting assets
• wastings
• wastness