spring

1. 1

   To move or burst forth.intransitive

   • The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.
2. 2

   To move or burst forth.; To appear.intransitive

   • ...so the man tooke his concubine, and brought her foorth vnto them, and they knew her, and abused her all the night vntil the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her goe.
   • Home I would go, But that my Dores are hatefull to my eyes. Fill'd and damm'd up with gaping Creditors, Watchfull as Fowlers when their Game will ſpring; […]
3. 3

   To move or burst forth.; To grow, to sprout.intransitive

   • Commerce! beneath whose poison-breathing shade No solitary virtue dares to spring, […]
   • Dr. Sigmund Freud... says that everything you and I do springs from two motives: the sex urge and the desire to be great.
4. 4

   To move or burst forth.; To grow, to sprout.UKdialectalintransitive

5. 5

   To move or burst forth.; To arise, to come into existence.figurativelyintransitive

6. 6

   To move or burst forth.; To enliven.figurativelyintransitivesometimes

   • He hit the gas and the car sprang to life.
7. 7

   To move or burst forth.; To move with great speed and energy.figurativelyintransitiveusually

   • Deer spring with their hind legs, using their front hooves to steady themselves.
   • ...into helle spring...
8. 8

   To move or burst forth.; To be born, descend, or originate fromintransitiveusually

   • He sprang from peasant stock.
9. 9

   To move or burst forth.; To rise in social position or military rank, to be promoted.intransitiveobsolete

10. 10

    To cause to spring (all senses).transitive

1. 1

   An act of springing: a leap, a jump.countable

   • The pris'ner with a spring from prison broke; Then stretch'd his feather'd fans with all his might, And to the neighb'ring maple wing'd his flight.
2. 2

   The season of the year in temperate regions in which temperatures and daylight hours rise, and plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life.countableuncountable

   • Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.
   • You can visit me in the spring, when the weather is bearable.
3. 3

   The season of the year in temperate regions in which temperatures and daylight hours rise, and plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life.; The period from the moment of vernal equinox (around March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere) to the moment of the summer solstice (around June 21); the equivalent periods reckoned in other cultures and calendars.countableuncountable

   • Chinese New Year always occurs in January or February but is called the "Spring Festival" throughout East Asia because it is reckoned as the beginning of their spring.
4. 4

   The season of the year in temperate regions in which temperatures and daylight hours rise, and plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life.; The three months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere.countableuncountable

   • I spent my spring holidays in Morocco.
   • The spring issue will be out next week.
5. 5

   The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.figurativelyuncountable

   • ...and it came to passe about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house...
   • O how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day.
6. 6

   The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.; A period of political liberalization and democratization.countablefigurativelyuncountable

   • Arab Spring
   • Prague Spring
7. 7

   Someone with ivory or peach skin tone and eyes and hair that are not extremely dark, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.countable

8. 8

   Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly; A spray or body of water springing from the ground.countableuncountable

   • This beer was brewed with pure spring water.
9. 9

   Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly; The rising of the sea at high tide.countableobsoleteuncountable

10. 10

    Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly; Ellipsis of spring tide, the especially high tide shortly after full and new moons.abbreviationalt-ofcountable

syn. beginning

1. 1

   To spend the springtime somewhere.intransitive

   • True it is that, owing to the migratory propensities of our countrymen, every third man has wintered at Naples, springed at Vienna, summered in Switzerland, and autumned on the banks of the Lago Maggiore;
   • If Tad’s father and Tad had wintered, springed, summered, and autumned together for an hundred years instead of fifteen they could[…]