- (v.t.) To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard.
- (v.i.) To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot.
- (v.i.) 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.
- (v.t.) To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap.
- (v.i.) A line led from a vessel's quarter to her cable so that by tightening or slacking it she can be made to lie in any desired position; a line led diagonally from the bow or stern of a vessel to some point upon the wharf to which she is moored.
- (v.i.) To leap; to bound; to jump.
- (v.i.) To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason or principle.
- (v.i.) That which causes one to spring; specifically, a lively tune.
- (v.i.) 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.
- (v.i.) The time of growth and progress; early portion; first stage.
- (v.i.) A youth; a springal.
- (v.i.) To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.
- (v.i.) A crack or fissure in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely.
- (v.i.) Any active power; that by which action or motion, is produced or propagated; cause; origin; motive.
- (v.t.) To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly.
- (v.i.) Any source of supply; especially, the source from which a stream proceeds; as issue of water from the earth; a natural fountain.
- (v.t.) To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine.
- (v.i.) A shoot; a plant; a young tree; also, a grove of trees; woodland.
- (v.t.) To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence.
- (v.i.) To grow; to prosper.
- (v.i.) To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert.
- (v.t.) 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.
- (v.i.) 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.
- (v.i.) Elastic power or force.
- (v.i.) A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by elasticity; as, the spring of a bow.
- (v.i.) A leap; a bound; a jump.
- (v.i.) To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped; as, a piece of timber or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning.
- (v.t.) 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.
- (v.i.) That which springs or is originated, from a source;.
- (v.i.) A race; lineage.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). spring. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/spring/definitions/2065373 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "spring" http://smartdefine.org/spring/definitions/2065373 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, spring, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/spring/definitions/2065373>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "spring" 28 May 2011. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/spring/definitions/2065373> |