spring
Meanings
- To move or burst forth.
- To appear.
- To grow, to sprout.
- To mature.
- To arise, to come into existence.
- To enliven.
- To move with great speed and energy.
- To be born, descend, or originate from
- To rise in social position or military rank, to be promoted.
- To cause to spring (all senses).
- To cause to work or open by sudden application of pressure.
- To leap over.
- An act of springing: a leap, a jump.
- 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.
- The three months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere.
- The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.
- a period of political liberalization and democratization
- 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.
- Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly
- A spray or body of water springing from the ground.
- The rising of the sea at high tide.
- Ellipsis of spring tide, the especially high tide shortly after full and new moons.
- An elastic mechanical part or device in any shape (e.g., flat, curved, coiled), made of flexible material (usually spring steel) that exerts force and attempts to spring back when bent, compressed, or stretched.
- To spend the springtime somewhere.
- A surname.
- A census-designated place in Harris County, Texas, United States.
- Alternative form of spring, the season of warmth and new vegetation following winter.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”), from *sperǵʰ- (“to hurry”). Cognates * Saterland Frisian springe * West Frisian springe * Dutch springen * German Low German springen * German springen * Danish springe * Swedish springa * Norwegian springe * Faroese springa * Icelandic springa (“to burst, explode”). Other possible cognates include Lithuanian spreñgti (“to push (in)”), Old Church Slavonic прѧсти (pręsti, “to spin, to stretch”), Latin spargere (“to sprinkle, to scatter”), Ancient Greek σπέρχω (spérkhō, “to hasten”), Sanskrit स्पृहयति (spṛháyati, “to be eager”). Some newer senses derived from the noun.