Spring sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Spring sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1919, rev. 2024. Spring sb.1 Forms: 1, 3– spring, 2, 4–7 springe; 1, 4–6 spryng(e, 3–4 sprung, 4 sprenge, 6 spreng. [OE. spring and spryng masc., formed respectively from the primary and weak grades of the stem spring-, sprang-, sprung-: see SPRING v., from which a number of the later senses are directly derived.

1   In OE. the simple word is comparatively rare, chiefly occurring in senses which have not survived. Sense 1 (more common in the combs. ǽ- and wyllspring, -spryng) is also that of OS. aha-, gispring, MDu. (Du.) and MLG. spring (MLG. and Du. dial. spreng), OHG. (MHG. and G. dial.) spring, sprung. In sense 13 the equivalent forms are MSw. and Da. spring, OHG. (MHG. and G.), MLG. and MSw. sprung, MDu. (Du. and WFris.), G. dial., sprong, MLG. (LG.), MSw. sprang (Sw. språng).]

2   I.  1. The place of rising or issuing from the ground, the source or head, of a well, stream or river; the supply of water forming such a source. Now rare.

3 816.  in Birch, Cartul. Saxon. (1885), I. 495. Æt þæs bernes ende æt ðæs wæteres sprynge.

4 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1314. In middes þe land he sagh a spring Of a well.

5 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIV. xxxi. (Bodl. MS.). In þeese hiȝe mounteyns is snowe alwey,… and heedes and springes of welles and of greete ryuers.

6 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 470. Sprynge, of a welle, scaturigo, scatebra.

7 1535.  Coverdale, 2 Esdras xii. 47. Ye Hyest shall holde styll the sprynges of the streame agayne.

8 1600.  E. Blount, trans. Conestaggio, 4. Great riuers, whose mouthes are knowne, but not their springs.

9 1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. iv. 88. At what time it is Summer in Egypt,… then is it winter at the springes of Nile.

10 1665.  Manley, Grotius’ Low C. Wars, 293. The Springs of the Well [might be] stopped, or at least intercepted.

11 1728.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Tides, So that entering the Mouths of Rivers, it [sc. the sea] drives back the River-waters towards their Heads, or Springs.

12 1815.  Shelley, Alastor, 478. The sound Of the sweet brook that from the secret springs Of that dark fountain rose.

13   2.  A flow of water rising or issuing naturally out of the earth; a similar flow obtained by boring or other artificial means.

14 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 581. Ilc wateres springe here strengðe undede.

15 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 11699. Vnder þi rote þar es a spring, I wil þat vte þe water wring.

16 c. 1325.  Chron. Eng., 191, in Ritson, Metr. Rom., II. 278. In four sprunges the tonnes liggeth. Ibid., 195. The tuo sprunges urneth yfere.

17 c. 1420.  Contin. Brut, ccxxiv. 292. Þere arose a suche a … wellinge op of wateres and floodes, bothe of þe see and also of fresshe ryvers & spryngez, þat [etc.].

18 1483.  Cath. Angl., 356. A Sprynge of water, scatebra, scatirigo.

19 1570.  Dee, Math. Pref., d j b. Being a Spring, standing, or running Water.

20 1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., II. xxi. 58. A faire fountain … either of a natural spring or artificial.

21 1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 497. There are two little Springs, the one fresh, the other somewhat brackish.

22 1665.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 386. It has also some Springs of good Water.

23 1732.  Pope, Ess. Man, I. 137. For me, Health gushes from a thousand springs.

24 1765.  A. Dickson, Treat. Agric. (ed. 2), 150. If there are springs in all places,… it will be necessary to make drains at the sides.

25 1812.  Playfair, Nat. Phil., I. 285. Springs, in which the water does not considerably change its heat from one season of the year to another.

26 1855.  Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat., 200. At Vaucluse, there is a spring of water yielding from thirteen to forty thousand cubic feet … per minute.

27 1878.  Huxley, Physiogr., 25. Springs of this simple character, which issue at the junction of permeable and impermeable strata, are extremely common.

28   fig.  c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well, 2. Þanne delve doun … tyl þou fynde vij sprynges of watyr of grace.

29 1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 72. Kennell,… whose filth and dirt Troubles the siluer Spring, where England drinkes.

30 1596.  Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 18. Streames of bloud did rayle Adowne, as if their springs of life were spent.

31 1696.  Tate & Brady, Ps. cxliii. 10. From Mercy’s healing Spring Revive me.

32 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 408. An ancient Legend I prepare to sing, And upward follow Fame’s immortal Spring.

33 1751.  Chatham, Lett. Nephew, ii. 7. Drink as deep as you can of these divine springs [sc. Homer and Virgil].

34 1771.  Encycl. Brit., I. 644. When old age approaches,… the springs of life dry up.

35 1818.  Keats, Endym., II. 738. And then there ran Two bubbling springs of talk from their sweet lips.

36 1851.  Maurice, Patriarchs & Law-g., vii. (1855), 145. That he should open springs in hearts hitherto ice-bound!

37   b.  A flow of water possessing special properties, esp. of a medicinal or curative nature. Usually with various distinguishing adjs., as chalybeate, hot, mineral, thermal, warm, etc.

38 1787.  Phil. Trans., LXXVIII. 187. About two leagues to the east of this mass I discovered a brackish mineral spring.

39 1800.  [see THERMAL a. 1].

40 1819.  Warden, United States, II. 176. The sweet springs, another mineral water. Ibid. At the distance of a mile are the red springs, which, like the former, have a tonic or bracing quality.

41 1839.  De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xv. 517. Chalybeate springs are very common.

42 1847.  H. Miller, First Impr. Eng., xi. (1857), 189. The underground history of the mineral springs of Great Britain.

43 1850.  Johnston’s Gen. Gazetteer, Bath, The hot springs … are saline and chalybeate.

44   c.  pl. A place or locality having such springs to which invalids or pleasure-seekers resort.

45 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 347. In his younger days the gentlemen who visited the springs slept in rooms hardly as good as the garrets which he lived to see occupied by footmen.

46 1859.  Saxe, Poems (1872), 239. Pray, what do they do at the Springs?

47   d.  transf. A jet or spray of water. rare–1.

48 1818.  Lady Morgan, Autobiog. (1859), 111. All appeared silence and desolation; neither the grands nor petits eaux threw up their diamond springs in the sunshine.

49   3.  fig. A source or origin of something. Also occas. without const.

50   a.  Predicated of persons or personifications.

51 a. 1225.  Juliana, 50. Of al þat uuel iþe world … ich am an of þe sprunges, þat hit mest of springeð.

52 c. 1410.  Hoccleve, Mother of God, 88. Of al vertu, thow art the spryng & welle!

53 1412–20.  Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 1710. Þouȝ he [Ovid] of poetis was þe spring & welle.

54 1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., XLIII. (Percy Soc.), 212. And thus I, Fame, am ever magnified,… The spryng of honour and of famous clarkes.

55 1605.  Shaks., Macb., II. iii. 103. Macb. The Spring, the Head, the Fountaine of your Blood Is stopt…. Macd. Your Royall Father’s murther’d.

56 1685.  Baxter, Paraphr. N. T., John i. 9. As the Lord and Spring of Nature, he giveth all men their Intellectual Natural Light.

57 1709.  Watts, Hymn, 1. My God, the Spring of all my Joys, The Life of my Delights.

58 1876.  Morris, Æneid, XII. 166. Father Æneas, spring of the Roman weal.

59   b.  In general use.

60 1523.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), I. 30. Suche yerely reuenues and wellyng spryngges as [read of] treasure as shuld … be browght into this Realme.

61 1550.  W. Lynne, Carion’s Cron., 1. That commaundemente of God is the springe and beginninge of all lawes.

62 1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 73. Theare mount Ide resteth, the springe of progenye Troian.

63 1612.  Sylvester, Tropheis Hen. Gt., cv. This noble Spirit doth to his Spring re-mount, This Bounties Flood retireth to his Fount.

64 1719.  W. Wood, Surv. Trade, 193. I have discoursed on the African Trade, by reason it is the Spring and Parent whence the others flow.

65 1730.  Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos., Dedic. The Gothic, the common Spring of all the Western Languages of Europe.

66 1817.  Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. v. 516. It was not one spring alone of dissension which distracted the government of Madras.

67 1892.  Westcott, Gospel of Life, 106. Language reveals the deepest springs of thought.

68   4.  attrib. and Comb., as spring-level, -nymph, pond, -vein; spring-fed, watered, adjs.; spring-branch U.S., a brook or stream fed by or flowing directly from a spring; spring-hole U.S., = spring-pit; spring-house U.S., an outhouse built over a spring or stream and used as a larder, dairy, etc.; spring-keeper U.S. (see quot.); spring-pit, a hole or cavity formed by a spring where it issues or rises; spring-salt (see quot.); spring-teller, one who finds springs by dowsing, etc.; spring-tooth (in allusion to Judges xv. 19).

69 1851.  Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., xxvi. 191. Deer and antelopes came to the *spring-branch to drink.

70 1848.  Buckley, Iliad, 136. He came to *spring-fed Ida.

71 1883.  F. Mitchell, in Century Mag., Sept., 652/2. These ponds are, of course, spring-fed.

72 1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 329. Keep her a few days in a pool or *spring-hole.

73 1874.  J. W. Long, Amer. Wild-fowl, xi. 171. The mallards … roosting in the small spring-holes and creeks.

74 1797.  F. Baily, Tour (1856), 433. This subterraneous cavity would afford an excellent convenience for a *spring house.

75 1894.  Outing, XXIV. 382/2. To see her at her best was at the butter-making down at the old spring-house.

76 1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 438. *Spring-keeper, a salamander, or small lizard-shaped animal, found in springs and fresh water rivulets.

77 1895.  Mrs. A. C. Wilson, 5 Years India, 261. It costs a large sum of money to make a well where the spring-level is so deep, so a village often builds one by instalments.

78 1897.  Edin. Rev., April, 458. The Danaid *spring-nymphs had to carry water in a sieve to prove their virginity.

79 1862.  A. Newton, Zool. Anc. Europe, 21. These [fresh-water tortoises] were found … in a peat bog, by the side of a *spring-pit, at East Wretham, about seven feet below the surface.

80 1711.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4887/4. All well water’d with *Spring Ponds.

81 1799.  J. Girvin, Impolicy prohib. Export. Rock Salt, 5. Salt is very properly distinguished by Mineralogists into Fossile-Salt, *Spring-Salt, and Sea-Salt.

82 1871.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 56. The method used by the *‘spring-tellers’ or ‘water-finders’ was simple enough.

83 1593.  G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super., 172. I barre the Checke-bone, for feare of Sampsons tune…. But the *spring-tooth in the iawe, will do vs no harme.

84 1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 402. As for *spring-veines there are none to bee found.

85 1884.  Mag. Art, March, 215/2. The velvety green of *spring-watered field-plots.

86   II.  5. The action or time of rising or springing into being or existence: a. The appearing or coming on, the first sign, of day, morning, etc.; the dawn. Also, the beginning of a season.

87   Fairly common from c. 1380 to c. 1600; now Obs. exc. poet. Cf. DAY-SPRING and OE. up-spring.

88 13[?].  K. Alis., 3586 (Bodl. MS.). For riȝth in þe dayes sprynge Tolomeus on hem com fleiȝeynge.

89 1382.  Wyclif, 1 Macc. v. 30. It is maad in spryng of the day, whanne thei reysiden her eeȝen.

90 c. 1391.  Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 6. To knowe the spring of the dawing and the ende of the euenyng.

91 1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, I vj b. At the sprynge of the daye they were at the monument.

92 c. 1530.  Tindale, Jonas iv. C viij. The lorde ordeyned a worme agenst the springe of ye morow morninge.

93 1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 323. To the intent at the springe of the daye … they might invade the City.

94 1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 82. Neuer since the middle Summers spring Met we.

95 1611.  Bible, 1 Sam. ix. 26. It came to passe about the spring of the day.

96 1623.  Lisle, Ælfric on O. & N. Test., Ded. Thou … shalt … Extend thy fame from Set to Spring of day.

97 1842.  Tennyson, St. Sim. Styl., 108. I, ’tween the spring and downfall of the light, Bow down one thousand and two hundred times.

98   † b.  Spring of the leaf, the time when trees begin to burst into leaf again. Obs.

99 1538.  in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. II. 98. Whiche I thynke shalbe about the spryng of the lefe.

100 1670.  J. Smith, Eng. Improv. Reviv’d, 31. A good Labouring man may ditch and quick-set about the Spring or fall of the Leaf a ditch of six foot broad and five foot deep.

101   † c.  The increase of the moon. Obs.–1

102 1559.  Morwyng, Evonym., 116. Gather the Plantes … in faire weather, in the spring of the mone.

103   d.  An outburst or fresh development. rare–1.

104 1605.  Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. vi. § 15. At one and the same time [the Reformation] it was ordayned by the Divine Providence, that there should attend withall a renovation and new spring of all other knowledges.

105   6.  a. The spring of the year, = next. ? Obs.

106 1530.  Palsgr., 274. Spring of the yere, printemps, prin.

107 1548.  Turner, Names Herbes (E.D.S.), 80. In the sprynge of the yere, it hath yealowe floures.

108 1551.  Recorde, Cast. Knowl. (1556), 31. From thence [‘the eleuenth daye of Marche’] they recken the Springe of the yeare thre monethes.

109 1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl. (1848), 58. If then, in the Spring of the Year, our Reflector see the Gardener pruning a Fruit-tree.

110 1731.  Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Brassica, In the Spring of the Year these Cabbages will shoot out strongly.

111 1828.  Farmer’s Jrnl., 12 May.

112   b.  The first season of the year, or that between winter and summer, reckoned astronomically from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice; in popular use in Great Britain comprising the months of February, March and April; in U.S. March, April and May. Also transf., a season resembling this in some respect.

113   Used without article or with the, and in specialized cases with a, etc. Often with initial capital, and in poetry freq. personified.

114   (a)  a. 1547.  Surrey, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 4. Description of Spring, wherin eche thing renewes, saue onelie the louer.

115 1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 100. At spring (for the sommer) sowe garden ye shall.

116 1596.  Spenser, F. Q., VII. vii. 28. So, forth issew’d the Seasons of the yeare; First, lusty Spring, all dight in leaues of flowres.

117 1607.  Lever, Q. Eliz. Tears, li. Beauteous floures, (The pretty children of the Earth and Spring).

118 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 751. Alone he tempts … Th’ unhappy Climes, where Spring was never known.

119 1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xi. 106 (Dubl.). If it be not sown before Spring, its Grain will be thin.

120 1779.  Mirror, No. 16. The effects of the return of Spring have been frequently remarked.

121 1819.  Shelley, Ode West Wind, v. O, Wind, if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

122 1848.  L. Hunt, Jar of Honey, vii. 84. Thou still, thou still, art the same blithe, sweet thing Thou ever wast, O Spring.

123 1886.  J. Ashby-Sterry, Lazy Minstrel (1892), 6. Spring’s Delights are now returning!

124   (b)  a. 1547.  Surrey, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 15. Like as when, rough winter spent, The pleasant spring straight draweth in vre.

125 1577.  Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 22. Touching the season of your plowing, it must be cheefely in the spring.

126 1609.  Dekker, Ravens Alm., Wks. (Grosart), IV. 194. Let vs now try if the spring will prooue any more cheerefull.

127 1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl. (1848), Pref. p. xviii. A dozen ordinary Pictures of the Spring (which yet are wont to charm Vulgar eyes).

128 1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xi. 128 (Dubl.). The Wheat will have the Benefit of them earlier in the Spring.

129 1742.  Gray, Spring, 26. The insect-youth are on the wing, Eager to taste the honied spring.

130 1828.  Wordsw., Morn. Exerc., 48. Yet might’st thou seem … to sing All independent of the leafy spring.

131 1842.  Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 20. In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

132   (c)  1596.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. iii. 38. As in an early Spring, We see th’appearing buds. Ibid. (1596), Rich. III., III. i. 94. Short Summers lightly haue a forward Spring.

133 1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. xiii. 111. Yet those which inhabite there, take it for a delightful spring.

134 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 179. To sing The Pæstan Roses, and their double Spring.

135 1726–46.  Thomson, Winter, 1069. The storms of Wintry Time will quickly pass, And one unbounded Spring encircle all.

136 1742.  Gray, Eton Coll., 20. The gales … seem … To breathe a second spring.

137 1830.  Tennyson, Nothing will die, ii. A spring rich and strange, Shall make the winds blow. Ibid. (1859), Merlin & V., 407. My blood Hath earnest in it of far springs to be.

138   c.  fig. The first or early stage or period of life, youth, etc.

139 1590.  Greene, Mourn. Garm. (1616), B ij b. Sophonos … carried graue thoughts, and in the spring of his youth such ripe fruits, as are found in the Autumne of age.

140 1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., I. iii. 84. Oh, how this spring of loue resembleth The vncertaine glory of an Aprill day.

141 1621.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Motto, D 3. Who in the Spring, or Summer of his Pride, Was worship’d, honor’d, almost deifi’d.

142 1742.  Gray, Spring, 49. On hasty wings thy youth is flown; Thy sun is set, thy spring is gone.

143 1781.  Burke, Correspondence (1844), II. 437. A storm came upon us in the early spring of our toleration.

144 1826.  Disraeli, V. Grey, IV. iv. You are blighted for ever in the very spring of your life.

145 1834.  Lytton, Pompeii, I. vi. Apæcides was in the spring of his years.

146   d.  Contrasted with fall, esp. in the phr. spring and fall (cf. FALL sb.1 2). Now arch.

147 1643.  R. Baker, Chron. (1653), 183. So great oddes there is between the Spring and Fall of Fortune.

148 c. 1680.  Hickeringill, Hist. Whiggism, Wks. 1716, I. II. 153. Parliaments are to sit frequently…. I do not say, as often as you take Physick (Spring and Fall at least).

149 1754.  J. Bartlet, Gentl. Farriery (ed. 2), 173. This disease … in some horses shews itself spring and fall.

150 1764.  Warburton, Lett. (1809), 354. I do not wonder that any studious man should in England want physic at Spring and Fall.

151 1826.  [see FALL sb.1 2].

152   e.  This season in a particular year.

153 1621.  Ld. Dunfermline, in G. Seton, Mem. (1882), 130. I haue bein twayis or thrise this spring ellis at Archerie.

154 1677.  Prideaux, Lett. (1875), 59. We shall goe on buildeing to, as soon as spring begins.

155 1711.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to W. Montagu, 24 March. I am going to the same place I went last spring.

156 a. 1758[?].  Gray, Song, 2. Ere the spring he would return.

157 1801.  Farmer’s Mag., Nov., 465. There can be no scarcity of that grain before the Spring.

158 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., v. I. 659, note. Ferguson … was excluded by name from the general pardon published in the following spring. Ibid. (1855), xvii. IV. 12. In the spring of 1691, the Waldensian shepherds … were surprised by glad tidings.

159   f.  Used with numerals to mark a definite period, esp. in the age of a person or animal.

160 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 299. When to four full Springs his Years advance.

161 1820.  Byron, Mar. Fal., II. i. 371. Were I still in my five and twentieth spring.

162   g.  ellipt. Spring wheat.

163 1896.  Daily News, 30 Nov., 2/7. Wheat to-day is very firmly held…. English reds, 36s.; American springs, 37s.

164   7.  attrib. and Comb. a. Attrib., passing into adj., in the sense ‘of or pertaining to the spring’; ‘appearing, happening, occurring, etc., in the spring,’ as spring-ague, -beam, -bird, -blood, -blossom, etc.; spring juices (see quot.); spring-pottage, soup, pottage or soup made of or from fresh green vegetables.

165   Only the earlier or more important instances are given.

166 1711.  Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 14. They might, instead of making a cure,… turn a *spring-ague or an autumn-surfeit into an epidemical malignant fever.

167 1684.  Z. Cawdrey, Certainty Salvation, 28. The first warm and invigorating *Spring-beam to the Frost-nipt Loyalty of the Nation.

168 1760.  T. Smith, Jrnl. (1849), 273. The robin and *spring birds came a week or ten days sooner than usual.

169 1855.  Browning, Old Pictures Florence, xxiii. I have loved the season Of Art’s *spring-birth.

170 1825.  J. Wilson, Poems, II. 96. Bright as *spring-blossoms after sunny showers.

171 1820.  Keats, Isabella, xiii. Even bees, the little almsmen of *spring-bowers.

172 1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. II. vi. To be concerting measures for the *spring Campaign.

173 1849.  D. J. Browne, Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855), 107. Generally speaking, *spring chickens are more desirable.

174 1817.  Lady Morgan, France, I. 52. The morning light of an early *spring day.

175 1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 313. This Erithace commeth of the *Spring-dew.

176 1813.  Scott, Trierm., I. i. Generous as spring-dews that bless the glad ground.

177 1818–20.  E. Thompson, Nosologia (ed. 3), 321. Lichen; *Spring Eruption, Scorbutic Pimples.

178 1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 438. *Spring fever, the listless feeling caused by the first sudden increase of temperature in spring. It is often said of a lazy fellow, ‘He has got the spring fever.’

179 a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, III. (1629), 387. Thus poesies of the *spring flowers were wrapt vp in a little greene silke, and dedicated to Kalas breasts.

180 1884.  Mrs. C. Praed, Zéro, iv. The floor was carpeted with moss and spring flowers.

181 1765.  Treat. Dom. Pigeons, 110. Their young ones … were as large as middling *spring fowls.

182 1615.  A. Nicchols, Marr. & Wiving, x. 30. Lust,… the *Spring-frost of beauty.

183 1842.  Loudon, Suburban Hort., 417. Retarding the blossoming of the trees, and lessening the risk of their being injured by spring frosts.

184 1851.  Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., 129. Until it loose The clammy clods and let out the *spring-growth.

185 1868.  Rep. U. S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 255. As soon as the spring growth, sometimes called the midsummer shoot, is completed.

186 1824.  Loudon, Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2), 662. The juice [of water-cress] is decocted with that of scurvy-grass and Seville oranges, and forms the popular remedy called *spring juices.

187 1831.  W. Patrick, Indigenous Pl. Lanark., 46. Leaves [of Brooklime]…; generally gathered for medical purposes, and together with scurvy-grass, an ingredient in that nauseous composition called Spring juices.

188 1818.  Keats, Teignm., ix. I’ve gather’d young *spring-leaves, and flowers gay Of periwinkles and wild strawberry.

189 1872.  Symonds, Study Dante, 175. Like one of the white *spring-lilies of the Alps.

190 1765.  Museum Rust., IV. 279. The *spring litters [of pigs] stand greatly in need of the milk and whey.

191 1870.  H. Smart, Race for Wife, i. The first *spring meeting became his assizes.

192 1775.  Ash, *Springmonths, the months of the spring quarter.

193 1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. IV. ii. Through the spring months, as the Sower casts his corn abroad.

194 1818.  Shelley, Marenghi, 124. Many a fresh *Spring morn would be awaken.

195 1775.  Ash, *Springmorning, a mild growing morning.

196 1773.  Ann. Reg., 87. After eating a hearty breakfast of *Spring pottage.

197 1836–7.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Scenes, xii. If the Parks be ‘the lungs of London,’ we wonder what Greenwich Fair is—a periodical breaking out, we suppose, a sort of *spring-rash.

198 a. 1722.  Lisle, Husb. (1757), 299. Strike fresh sap-roots, or buds preparative to the ensuing spring, and which will the next year be the *spring-roots.

199 1731.  Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Melissa, The variegated Sort makes a … pretty Appearance in the *Spring Season.

200 1789.  T. Wright, Watering Meadows (1790), 8. Between March and May we are sure of *Spring-seed.

201 1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xi. 107 (Dubl.). That long Interval betwixt Autumn and *Spring Seed-times.

202 a. 1746.  Holdsworth, Virgil (1768), 35. Scarce any tree growing faster than a young Alder,… especially in the *spring-shoot.

203 1763.  Museum Rust., I. 141. When the ground is properly prepared, it should be planted with sets, being the spring shoots pulled up in a madder-plot.

204 1763.  Mills, Pract. Husb., IV. 365. Immediately after a hasty *spring-shower.

205 1836.  Fonblanque, Eng. under Seven Administr. (1837), III. 313. A *spring soup, a turbot, a few made dishes, a dessert, &c.

206 1859.  Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 195. He … had twice spring soup, and twice salmon and cucumber.

207 a. 1722.  Lisle, Husb. (1757), 138. The *spring-tillows … do arise from the foot of the root of the winter-stems or shoots.

208 1641.  Brome, Joviall Crew, II. (1652), D iv b. For a *spring-trick of youth, now, in the season.

209 1837.  Lockhart, Scott, II. 243. As soon as the *spring vacation began.

210 1612.  Webster, White Devil, II. i. 166. Neglected cassia or the naturall sweetes Of the *Spring-violet.

211 1707.  Mortimer, Husb., 233. The *Spring winds, which nips the young Buds.

212 1835.  T. Mitchell, Aristoph., Acharn., 785, note. The ἄνεμοι ὀρνιθίαι, or spring-winds, which bring with them the birds of passage.

213 1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 482. There is found little or nothing to do till the burst of *spring-work comes.

214   b.  In the sense ‘sown or suitable for sowing in the spring,’ as spring barley, corn, kale, onion, rye, wheat, etc.

215 1861.  Bentley, Man. Bot., 699. H[ordeum] vulgare, Bere, Bigg, Four-rowed or *Spring Barley.

216 1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xi. 107 (Dubl.). Wheat … hence having about thrice the time to be maintain’d that *Spring Corn hath.

217 1763.  Mills, Pract. Husb., III. 171. Turneps … occupying the whole ground when it should be sowed with spring-corn.

218 1812.  Examiner, 11 May, 292/1. All the spring corn … in a very backward state.

219 1885.  Stallybrass, trans. Hehn’s Wand. Pl. & Anim., 450. They, who probably planted only spring-corn.

220 1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 637. Of the various sorts of cabbage, fit for field culture, the Scotch gray, the open green or *spring kale, and the turnip-rooted, are the hardiest.

221 1786.  Abercrombie, Gard. Assist., 252. More … on warm borders to stand for *spring lettuces.

222 1882.  Garden, 28 Jan., 65/3. This land we intend for *Spring Onions.

223 1765.  Museum Rust., IV. 226. It seems adviseable to delay the sowing of *spring-rye as long as can be.

224 1766.  Compl. Farmer, 5 H. Having sown *spring wheat after a crop of madder.

225 1812.  Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., 244. A discrimination is highly necessary between winter wheat sown in the spring, and the Siberian, or real spring wheat.

226 1868.  Rep. U. S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 417. They had been in the habit of using too much seed for spring wheat.

227   c.  In the specific or popular names of plants, birds, fishes, insects, etc., as spring-beauty, -bell, crocus, gentian, -grass; † spring-froth, herring, usher, wagtail: (see quots.).

228   (a)  1846–50.  A. Wood, Class-bk. Bot., 194. Claytonia Caroliniana. *Spring Beauty. Ibid., C. Virginica. Virginian Spring Beauty.

229 1874.  Treas. Bot., Suppl. 1344. *Springbell, Sisyrinchium grandiflorum.

230 1846–50.  A. Wood, Class-bk. Bot., 543. Crocus vernus, *Spring Crocus.

231 1829.  Loudon, Encycl. Plants, 202. Gentiana verna, *spring gentian.

232 1713.  Phil. Trans., XXVIII. 179. Soft Crested Grass … is thicker, softer, and more loose than our common Crested Grass, and in spike more nearly resembles our yellow *Spring Grass.

233 1771.  Encycl. Brit., I. 327. Anthoxanthum … odoratum, or spring-grass, a native of Britain.

234 1845–50.  Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., 139. The sweet scented spring-grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum).

235   (b)  a. 1722.  Lisle, Husb. (1757), 449. An account of the cuckow-spit, or *spring-froth.

236 1868.  Chambers’s Encycl., X. 387/1. The Alewife is called *Spring Herring in some places, and gasperau by the French Canadians.

237 1884.  Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 579. The ‘Spring’ Herring or ‘Alewife,’ Clupea vernalis.

238 1832.  J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & Moths, 102. The *Spring Usher (Anisopteryx leucophearia …) appears in oak woods the end of February and March.

239 1802.  Montagu, Ornith., s.v. Wagtail, *Spring, or Summer Wagtail.

240   8.  Comb., as spring-budding, -digging, -dressing, flowering, etc.; spring-born, -gathered, -made, -planted, etc.; spring green a., light green.

241   (a)  1852.  W. Wickenden, Hunchback’s Chest, 281. I had heard them [bells] with my Rose in the *spring-budding meadows.

242 1763.  Mills, Pract. Husb., IV. 351. After each *spring digging,… the same care and management of the vines … must be continued.

243 1795.  D. Walker, View Agric. Hertford, 39. The *spring or top dressings are the leading features of the Hertfordshire farming.

244 1842.  Loudon, Suburban Hort., 669. Excepting in the first spring after sowing, no spring dressing is required till May.

245 1731.  Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Colchicum, *Spring-flowering Meadow-Saffron.

246 1866.  Treas. Bot., 110/1. A pretty spring-flowering plant.

247 1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xi. 128 (Dubl.). This thus pulveriz’d Surface turn’d in, in the *Spring-Hoeing, enriches the Earth.

248 1817.  Keats, Curious Shell, 14. What is it that hangs from thy shoulder, so brave, Embroider’d with many a *spring peering flower?

249 1782.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), IX. 6631. The *spring planting may be performed the end of January or beginning of February.

250 1765.  Museum Rust., IV. 312. If the *spring-ploughing for barley or oats has been nine or ten inches deep.

251 1846.  Keightley, Notes Virg., Georg., I. 43. The poet commences his precepts with the spring-ploughing of the land.

252 1826.  Art of Brewing (ed. 2), 164. Soon after the *spring racking,… the casks may be gradually stopped.

253 1765.  Museum Rust., IV. 322. It is very common for grass-seeds to fail on such land, even from the *spring-sowing.

254 1883.  F. A. Smith, Swedish Fisheries, 5. An essay on the cultivation of *spring-spawning fishes.

255 1842.  Loudon, Suburban Hort., 439. A top-dressing of putrescent manure may be … left on the surface till the *spring-stirring.

256   (b)  1868.  Morris, Earthly Par. (1890), 55/1. Unscared the *spring-born thrush did pass.

257 1857.  Thornbury, Songs Cavaliers & Roundheads, 53. The sweet *spring-gather’d flowers fall before his feet in showers.

258 a. 1722.  Lisle, Husb. (1757), 304. The *spring-made cheese was tarter.

259 1812.  New Botanic Gard., I. 32. These *spring-planted roots flower … after those which were planted in autumn.

260 1786.  Abercrombie, Gard. Assist., 128. Plant out *spring-raised cabbages. Ibid., 137. Begin to weed the general *spring-sowed crops.

261 1801.  Farmer’s Mag., Nov., 473. The grain of *Spring sown fields.

262 1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 182. Indeed no grain will yield more than half a crop of poor quality, (on the Pacific slope), when spring-sown.

263 1864.  Swinburne, Atalanta, 2112. As winter’s wan daughter Leaves lowland and lawn *Spring-stricken.

264 1649.  G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., ccxlviii. Northumberland, who like a *Spring-taught Snayle Was crauling to haue Nibbled the fresh leafe.

265 1855.  Woman’s Devot., II. 299. The fair shadowing green of the *spring touched larch.

266   (c)  1891.  M. E. Wilkins, Humble Romance, etc. 46. The cottages were painted uniformly white, and had blinds of a bright Spring-green colour!

267   III.  † 9. A young growth on a tree, plant or root; a shoot, sprout or sucker; a small branch, sprig or twig; the rudimentary shoot of a seed. In early quots. fig. Obs. (Freq. c. 1560–c. 1650.)

268 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 27380. Quilk ar þaa sinnes þat scrift sal scau I sal þam recken siþen on rau, wit þair springes herefter neist. Ibid., 27737. Vnheind talking,… hurtes grett, and sclander and tene; þir ar þe springes o wreth fythtene.

269 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 470. Sprynge, of a tre or plante,… planta, plantula.

270 1502.  Arnolde, Chron., 62 b/2. Yf thou wylt plante an Almaunde tree … putte many kyrnels togyder in the erth or seuerelly and whan the sprynge is growen oute [etc.].

271 1559.  Morwyng, Evonym., 304. Wet the end of a fether or other lyke thing, as some yong and tender spring of a trie.

272 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, 4. The roote … putting foorth on every side much encrease of new springs. Ibid., 369. Thymelæa hath many smal springs or branches, of the length of a cubite.

273 1660.  Sharrock, Vegetables, 117. A spring of scarce discernable growth may serve as a foundation to the pedal of the blossom.

274   † b.  A growth of this nature cut or slipped off, esp. for planting; a rod or switch; a cutting, set or slip. Also fig. Obs.

275 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 41. Who-so spareth þe sprynge spilleth his children.

276 1387–8.  T. Usk, Test. Love, III. vi. (Skeat), l. 4. ‘That tree to sette, fayn wolde I lerne.’… ‘The first thing, thou muste sette thy werke on grounde siker and good, accordaunt to thy springes.’

277 c. 1485.  E. E. Misc. (1855), 67. There is moste connabylle tyme for sedys, graynys, and pepyns, and Autumpe for spryngys, and plantys.

278 1563.  Hyll, Art Garden. (1593), 85. Between the old plants set yong springs, slipped off from the old.

279 1601.  Holland, Pliny, II. 196. The same yong springs eaten alone by themselues in a salad, in maner of the tender crops and spurts of the Colewort,… do fasten the teeth.

280 1657.  R. Austen, Fruit-trees, i. 60. After a yeare or two divers young springs may be drawne from the roots.

281   † c.  A young tree, esp. one growing from a set or slip; a sapling. Obs.

282 1499.  Pynson, Promp. Parv., P iv/2. Springe or yonge tre.

283 1545.  in I. S. Leadam, Sel. Cas. Crt. Requests (1898), 85. To fell & cutt down viij yong Sprynges abowte Allhaloutyd.

284 1552.  Huloet, Arboure or place made with quicke springes.

285 1563.  Hyll, Art Garden. (1593), 6. That ground … which naturally bringeth forth of his own accord, both elms and wilde young springs.

286   fig.  c. 1535.  Elyot, Educ., B iv. Good aduertisements and preceptes, wherby the yonge spryng of vertuous maners shall growe streyghte.

287   † d.  transf. A young man, a youth. Obs.

288 1559.  Mirr. Mag., Earl Northumbld., iv. A sonne I had … That being yong, and but a very spring [etc.].

289 c. 1586.  C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CV. ix. Their eldest-borne, that countries hopefull spring.

290 1590.  Spenser, Muiopotmos, 292. Winged Loue, With his yong brother Sport;… The one his bowe and shafts, the other Spring A burning Teade about his head did moue.

291   10.  A copse, grove or wood consisting of young trees springing up naturally from the stools of old ones; a plantation of young trees, esp. one inclosed and used for rearing or harboring game; a spinney. Now dial.

292   Freq. in the 16th and 17th c., often in local names.

293 1399.  Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees Soc.), 132. Pro xxj rodis de hegyng circa le spring in Langwath.

294 1468–9.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 155. Pro factura liij rod. fossat. circa unam percellam terre juxta parcum de Shynkcley pro salvacione de le Spryng ibidem … xiij s. ix d.

295 c. 1490.  Plumpton Corr. (Camden), 74. To cause suer search to be made, what horse & cattaille ther be, that goes in my spring within my parke at Spofford.

296 1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 135. So is a spryng beste kepte, where there is neyther manne nor foure-foted beastes within the hedge.

297 1576.  Turberv., Hunting, xxxi. In small groues or hewts,… priuily enclosed within the greater springs in the Forests and strong couerts.

298 1600.  Fairfax, Tasso, XIII. xxxi. If his courage any champion moue To trie the hazard of this dreedfull spring, I giue him leaue…: This said, his Lords attempt the charmed groue.

299 1620–6.  Quarles, Feast for Worms, 476. A Herd of Deere are browzing in a spring, With eager appetite.

300 1652.  Blithe, Eng. Improver Impr. (ed. 3), 157. Although much dry,… hungry land doth not many times afford a thick Coppice, or good Spring.

301 a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Ring-walks, They go drawing in their Springs at Hart-Hunting.

302 1783–.  in dialect glossaries (Yks., Lanc., Linc., Herts., Kent, etc.).

303   fig.  1591.  Lyly, Endym., V. ii. Top. Howe shall I bee troubled when this younge springe shall growe to a great wood! Epi. O, sir, your chinne is but a quyller yet.

304   b.  Const. of (wood, oak, etc.).

305 1483.  Cath. Angl., 356. A Sprynge of wodde, virgultum.

306 1614.  Minutes Archdeaconry Essex (MS.), He had cattle broke into a yonge springe of wood.

307 1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 218. I … In yonder Spring of Roses intermixt With Myrtle, find what to redress till Noon.

308 1690.  in Hunter MSS. (Chapt. Durham), VII. 203. A parcell of ground whereon there is a new spring of Oakes growne 3 and 4 yards high.

309 1732.  N. Riding Rec., IX. 120. All that spring of wood, adjoining to the last-mentioned close.

310 1750.  W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., IV. iv. 18. A Spinny, or Spring of Underwood.

311 1780.  Newcastle Courant (E.D.D.), On the estate there are two fine springs of wood.

312   c.  collect. Young growth, shoots, or sprouts, esp. the lower or under growth of trees or shrubs. Now dial.

313 1482.  Rolls of Parlt., VI. 224/1. To save the spryng of their Wood so felled. Ibid. The same spryng hath be in tyme passed, and daily ys distroyed.

314 1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 126. Lay thy small trouse or thornes … ouer thy quickesettes, that shepe do not eate the sprynge nor buddes of thy settes.

315 1579.  Spenser, Sheph. Cal., June, 53. The byrds, which in the lower spring Did shroude in shady leaues.

316 1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 514. The Pine tree also with her shaddow nippeth and killeth the yong spring of all plants within the reach thereof.

317 1670.  Evelyn, Sylva (ed. 2), xxxiv. 220. When the Spring is of two years growth, draw part of it for Quicksets.

318 1823, 1854.  in Suffolk and Northampt. glossaries.

319   d.  attrib. and Comb., as spring-fall, -felling, -shaw. Chiefly dial. Also SPRING-WOOD.

320 1800.  Tuke, Agric. Yks., 184. What is called ‘spring-felling,’ that is, felling the whole growth of the trees and underwood…, but so as not to injure the crown of the roots.

321 1856.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, 58. Pointers or setters which are broken to run in when ordered, may do in open spring-falls,… but they are too large for thick covert.

322 1887.  Parish & Shaw, Dict. Kent. Dial., Spring-shaw, a strip of the young undergrowth of wood, from two to three rods wide.

323   11.  A springing up, growing, or bursting forth of plants, vegetation, etc.; a growth or crop; also, a race or stock of persons. Now rare.

324 1624.  Chapman, Homer’s Hymn Apollo, 554. A most dreadful and pernicious thing, Call’d Typhon, who on all the human spring Conferr’d confusion.

325 1641.  Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 10. Some fresh pasture wheare there is a good timely springe appearinge on the grownd.

326 a. 1652.  Brome, Lovesick Crt., IV. ii. By a perpetual spring of more procere And bigger bladed grass.

327 1822.  W. J. Napier, Pract. Store-farming, 58. Upon the part particularly alluded to, there appears to have arisen a great spring of natural fiorin.

328   IV.  † 12. Rise, beginning, first appearance, or birth (of something). Obs.

329   a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 320. Ah we witen wel þet ure lahen, ure bileaue, & ure lei hefde lahe sprung [L. primordia].

330   1550.  Bale, Unchaste Votaries, I. (1560), 17. Ye very spring or fyrst going forth of the Gospel.

331 a. 1568.  Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 141. The Latin tong,… from the spring, to the decay of the same.

332 1594.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., I. vi. § 1. Men, if we view them in their spring, are at the first without understanding or knowledge at all.

333 1682.  Grew, Anat. Pl., Introd. 3. Plants have their set and peculiar Seasons for their Spring or Birth.

334   b.  In the phr. to take (…) spring from or out of, to have source or origin in, to rise or originate in.

335 1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., IV. xv. 129. The riuer of Salef, which takes her spring from the mount of Taur.

336 1605.  B. Jonson, Queen’s Masques, Blackness, A iij b. This riuer taketh spring out of a certain Lake, east-ward.

337 1835.  I. Taylor, Spir. Despot., v. 222. The spiritual power … taking its spring from Christianity.

338   † c.  ? The yolk of an egg. Obs.–1

339 1600.  Surflet, Countrie Farme, I. xii. 54. Stampe them all togither with the spring of an egge.

340   13.  † a. The rising of the sea (to an exceptional height) at particular times. (Cf. next.) Obs.

341 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. xxix. (Tollem. MS.). Alwey in þe new mone þe sprynge of þe see is heyest, and also in þe ful mone.

342 1539.  Act 31 Hen. VIII., c. 4. Ouerflowyng … of … grounde lying by the said riuer, with the high springes of the sea.

343 1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., II. xxiv. 65. All the whole length of the Citie is washed with the springs of the Sea.

344   b.  = SPRING-TIDE 2. Chiefly pl. (So G. spring.)

345 1584.  in J. J. Cartwright, Chapt. Hist. Yorks. (1872), 268. We say that there ryseth at the sprynge 18 foott water, and at the nepe eleaven foot water.

346 1622.  Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 180. It seemeth an iland, and in high springes I judge that the sea goeth round about it.

347 1641.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Last Voy., B 6 b. The trade … is at the least two hundred Tunnes of all commodities, every spring, which is every fortnight or lesse.

348 1751.  Anc. & Pres. St. Navig. Lyn, Wisbeach, etc. 25. The tides then generally run high, by Reason of the Springs putting in.

349 1779.  Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 15. The tide rises six feet on the springs.

350 1820.  Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., I. 147. The rise of tide may be stated at about six feet during the springs.

351 1858.  Merc. Marine Mag., V. 366. The stream runs 5 knots at springs, and 3 knots at neaps.

352 1892.  G. R. Lowndes, Camping Sketches, 211. Only the highest ‘springs’ could touch us.

353   transf.  1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 21. But when his [sc. the Nile’s] later spring gins to auale, Huge heapes of mudd he leaues.

354   attrib.  1846.  McCulloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 59. There is a bar outside the entrance; but as it has about 13 feet water over it even at the lowest spring ebbs, it [etc.].

355   c.  Without article.

356 1883.  Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 353. The difference between the intervals is greater at spring than at neap.

357   14.  An act of springing or leaping; a bound, jump or leap.

358 c. 1450.  in Rel. Ant., I. 309. Thy spryngys, thy quarters, thy rabetis also.

359 c. 1450.  Merlin, i. 15. As she sodenly made a sprynge, the childe fill oute of hir arme.

360 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 20 b. An holy monke, whiche in the poynt of his dethe sodeynly gaue a great sprynge vpwarde.

361 1674.  trans. Martiniere’s Voy. N. C., 40. Upon which they [sc. reindeer] gave such a spring, we thought [etc.].

362 1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 111. They carry the Leopards on Hackeries,… to give them the advantage of their Spring.

363 1737.  Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 167. Altho’ his Adversary’s Horse make a Spring, and run past him.

364 1820.  Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 294. I made a spring towards a boat … and caught hold of the gunwale.

365 1843.  R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxxi. 428. Taking two of the large stone stair-steps at each spring.

366 1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., iii. John Fry … in the spring of fright had brought himself down from Smiler’s side.

367   fig.  1878.  Stewart & Tait, Unseen Univ., i. § 46. 63. When Science was pausing for the spring she has since made.

368 1889.  Spectator, 26 Oct., 545/1. They must have … a certain largeness of view besides, shown in their repeated and sometimes successful springs at colonial empire.

369   b.  A recoil or rebound of something after being bent or forced out of its normal position or form.

370 1680.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 184. Unless … with every Spring of the Pole they should lift their treading Leg so high as [etc.].

371 1779.  Cowper, Human Frailty, 5. The bow well bent, and smart the spring, Vice seems already slain.

372 1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxiii. (1856), 196. A startling sensation, resembling the spring of a well-drawn bow.

373   c.  A quick, convulsive or elastic movement made by certain plants or animals in dispersing or depositing seed, eggs, etc.

374 1801.  Farmer’s Mag., Nov., 451. I took some of the flies,… and pressing them a little, they quitted several eggs, which they quit one by one, with a sudden spring.

375 1837.  P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 112. The pericarp of many fruits, which open when ripe with a sort of sudden spring, ejecting the seed with violence. Ibid., 159. The elastic spring with which the anther flies open.

376   d.  A distance capable of being covered by a spring or leap.

377 1817.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, II. xxix. Her spirit … far wandering, on the wing Of visions that were mine, beyond its utmost spring.

378 1831.  Scott, Ct. Robt., xvi. A tiger, chained within no distant spring of his bed.

379   15.  A flock of teal. Now arch.

380 c. 1450.  Egerton MS. 1995, in Philol. Soc. Trans. (1909), 51. A sprynge of Telys.

381 c. 1470.  Hors, Shepe, & G. (Roxb.), 30. A spryng of teeles.

382 1486.  Bk. St. Albans, f vj b. [Hence in later lists.]

383 1856.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, 78. The following Terms are in Use among Wildfowl-shooters:—A flock … of teal, ‘a spring.’

384 1892.  Cornh. Mag., Aug., 152. Further out we notice a ‘spring’ of nine teal, those diminutive ducks so neat and pretty in life, and withal so excellent on the table.

385   16.  A cut or joint of pork consisting of the belly or lower part of the fore-quarter. Obs. exc. dial.

386 1598.  Florio, Bambetti, that ioynt of meate we call a spring or pestle of porke.

387 1622.  Fletcher, Prophetess, I. iii. Can you be such an Ass … To think these springs of Pork will shoot up Cæsars?

388 1654.  Gayton, Pleas. Notes, III. 96. Pray hand the Spring of Porke to me.

389 1708.  W. Wilson, trans. Petr. Arbiter, 97. He shall make you … a Turtle of a Spring of Pork.

390 1771.  Mrs. Haywood, New Present for Maid, 20. The fore-quarter [of a hog] contains the spring and the fore-loin.

391 1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 240. The belly or spring [of pork], also fit for pickling, or for rolling up,… for brawn.

392   17.  Naut. † a. A breach or opening in a vessel through the splitting or starting of a plank or seam, Obs.–1

393 1611.  B. Jonson, Catiline, III. i. Each petty hand Can steer a ship becalmed; but he that will Govern and carry her to her ends must know … Where her springs are, her leaks; and how to stop ’em.

394   b.  A crack or split in a mast or spar, esp. one of such a size as to render it unsafe to carry the usual amount of sail.

395   G. sprung has the general sense of ‘split, crack.’

396 1744.  J. Philips, Jrnl. Exped. Anson, 157. We … discover’d a great Spring in the Foremast.

397 1748.  Anson’s Voy., II. ii. 135. The spring was two inches in depth.

398 1792.  Trans. Soc. Arts, X. 212. An accident by a shot, a spring, a rottenness.

399 1846.  A. Young, Naut. Dict., 292. A spar is said to be sprung, when it is cracked or split,… and the crack is called a spring.

400   18.  The quality or capacity of springing; the power inherent in, or possessed by, a thing of spontaneously resuming or returning to its normal state or bulk when pressure or other force is withdrawn; elastic energy or force; elasticity.

401   a.  Of the air.

402   Freq. from c. 1660 to c. 1770; now rare or Obs.

403 1660.  Boyle, New Exp. Phys. Mech., i. 24. There is yet another way to explicate the Spring of the Air.

404 1687.  D. Abercromby, Acad. Sci., App. IV. 4. By the help whereof [sc. the air-pump] he proves the Elastic Power and Spring of the Air.

405 1719.  Quincy, Phys. Dict. (1722), 9. The Air … hath been found … by the Force of its own Spring, to possess 13000 times the space it does when pressed by the incumbent Atmosphere.

406 a. 1774.  Goldsm., Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776), II. 84. This pressure is increased by another cause, I mean the air’s spring or elasticity.

407 1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 6. The operation is continued till the spring of the air in the receiver is no longer sufficient to lift the valves a b.

408   b.  Of solids.

409 1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 72. The spring of the earth over-ballancing the weight of it as to power.

410 1683.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. ¶ 5. Pieces of Felt … will Squeeze and retain their Spring for a considerable time.

411 1733.  Cheyne, Eng. Malady, II. x. § 2 (1734), 219. There is in all Animal Fibres … an original Mechanism of Elasticity or Spring.

412 1753.  Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, x. 60. A small wire that has lost its spring, and so will retain every shape it is twisted into.

413 1789.  Trans. Soc. Arts, VII. 159. There is a spring in the whalebone, which prevents it turning steady.

414 1874.  Pitt-Rivers, Evol. Culture, Princ. Classif. (1906), 16. Yielding few if any woods that have sufficient spring for the construction of the bow.

415 1879.  S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., iv. 73. The knives and daggers had an elastic spring, which … they retain to this day.

416   c.  Elasticity or springiness as possessed by persons or the limbs; buoyancy and vigor in movement.

417 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Æneid, XI. 437 (J.). Heav’ns! what a spring was in his Arm, to throw!

418 1723.  Steele, Consc. Lovers, III. 48. What a Spring in her Step!

419 1784.  Cowper, Task, I. 135. Th’ elastic spring of an unwearied foot That mounts the stile with ease.

420 1820.  Hazlitt, Table-T., Ser. II. xvi. (1869), 317. Do nothing to take away … the spring and elasticity of your muscles.

421 1845.  Bailey, Festus (ed. 2), 235. It is sad To … Know eyes are dimming, bosom shrivelling, feet Losing their spring.

422 1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 678. At first the patient finds that he is losing his spring in walking.

423   19.  transf. Buoyancy, activity, vigor of mind, temper, etc.; active power or faculty.

424 1682.  Sir T. Browne, Chr. Mor., III. § 20. Persons vitiously inclined … having the Elater and Spring of their own Natures to facilitate their Iniquities.

425 1714.  R. Fiddes, Pract. Disc., II. 116. If the mind be too long bent upon one thing, twill lose its spring and activity.

426 1752.  Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 192. A selfish villain may possess a spring and alacrity of temper.

427 1831.  Scott, Ct. Robt., xxvii. Ere he has … recovered, in some degree, the spring of his mind, and the powers of his body.

428 1887.  Ruskin, Præterita, II. 41. Happy journey by the Eastern Riviera began to restore my spring of heart.

429   20.  Arch. The point at which an arch or vault springs or rises from its abutment or impost; the commencement of curvature in an arch.

430 1726.  Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., II. 38/2. Columns of height sufficient to reach to the spring of their Arches.

431 1772.  C. Hutton, Bridges, 63. When the arch stones only are laid, and the pier built no higher than the spring.

432 1864.  Boutell, Her. Hist. & Pop., xix. (ed. 3), 317. The arches recede inwards from their spring from the Circlet.

433 1875.  Merivale, Gen. Hist. Rome, lxxix. (1877), 670. There remain on the face of the Palatine some indications of what may have been the spring of the first arch.

434   attrib.  1735.  J. Price, Stone-Br. Thames, 4. The Piers,… under the Chaptrel, or Spring Stones, have a Square Course.

435 1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 539. The supports of an arch are called the spring walls.

436 1859.  T. H. Turner, Dom. Archit., III. II. vii. 312. But there are the spring-stones of a fan-tracery vault.

437   ¶ b.  The rise of an arch; the ascent or slope of a bridge.

438 1753.  Scots Mag., Aug., 422/1. The arch … was fifty-five feet wide, and had but eight feet of spring.

439 1886.  Stevenson, Kidnapped, xxvi. An old, hobbling woman … set forth again up the steep spring of the bridge.

440   21.  a. techn. (See quot. 1825.) Also attrib.

441 1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 601. The bevel by which the edge of the plank is reduced from the right angle when the plank is sprung, is termed the spring of the plank.

442 1842.  Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Spring Bevel of a Rail, the angle made by the top of the plank, with a vertical plane touching the ends of the railpiece, which terminates the concave side.

443   b.  Naut. The sheer, the upward curvature or rise, of the deck planking of a vessel or boat.

444   So G. spring and sprung.

445 1838.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 353/1. The reason why she has such an extraordinary sheer or spring in the fore part of her upper deck.

446 1881.  Standard, 9 Aug., 6/3. The boat is high at the bow and stern, being built with what is known as a good spring.

447   V.  22. An elastic contrivance or mechanical device, usually consisting of a strip or plate of steel (or a number of these) suitably shaped or adjusted, which, when compressed, bent, coiled, or otherwise forced out of its normal shape, possesses the property of returning to it.

448   Springs vary greatly in form, size and use, but are used chiefly for imparting or communicating motion (either by gradual unwinding, as in the spring of a clock or watch, or by sudden release), for regulating or controlling movement, or for lessening or preventing concussion.

449   Cf. G. springfeder, Du. -veer, Da. -fjær, Sw. fjäder.

450   a.  In a clock, watch, etc., or in general use.

451 1428.  Acts Privy Council (1834), III. 289. Item for amendyng of the spryng of the barell [of a clock] vj s. viij d.

452 [1472.  in Rogers, Agric. & Prices (1882), IV. 622. A spring to a clock is purchased by King’s College, Cambridge, for 2d.]

453 1598.  Florio, Molla, a wheele of a clocke that mooueth all the rest called the spring.

454 1599.  T. M[oufet], Silkwormes, 35. Ingenious Germane, how didst thou conuey Thy Springs, thy Scrues, thy rowells, and thy flie?

455 1611.  Shaks., Cymb., II. ii. 47. To th’ Truncke againe, and shut the spring of it.

456 1677.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., ii. 28. The Spring H forces the Bolt forwards when it is shot back with the Key.

457 1713.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5155/4. A Gold Watch,… going with a Spring, Without Fusey, Chain or String.

458 1771.  Encycl. Brit., III. 936. The quickness or slowness of the vibrations of the balance depend not solely upon the action of the great spring, but chiefly upon the action of the spring a, b, c, called the spiral spring.

459 1825.  Scott, Talism., xii. At the same time was heard the sound of a spring or check, as when a crossbow is bent.

460 1860.  Dickens, Uncomm. Trav., xiv. One … rap was rapped that might have been a spring in Mr. Testator’s easy-chair to shoot him out of it.

461 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2275/2. A helical spring has coils of decreasing diameter as they approach the center.

462   b.  In a carriage, coach, or other vehicle.

463 1665.  Pepys, Diary, 5 Sept. After dinner comes Colonel Blunt in his new chariot made with springs.

464 1706.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4235/3. The sole Benefit of making and vending certain Steel Springs he hath … invented for ease of Persons riding in Coaches.

465 1794.  W. Felton, Carriages (1801), I. 72. Short light springs which contain but few plates, have frequently no hoops.

466 1837.  W. B. Adams, Carriages, 117. What is technically understood in carriages by the term ‘spring’ is a plate or plates of tempered steel properly shaped to play in any required mode.

467 1876.  Encycl. Brit., V. 137/1. The elliptic springs, upon which nearly all carriages are now mounted.

468   23.  fig. That by which action is produced, inspired or instigated; a moving, actuating or impelling agency, cause or force; a motive.

469   Frequent from c. 1700, either with direct allusion to the literal sense (a), or in a more indefinite use (b) which is sometimes not clearly distinguishable from sense 3.

470   (a)  c. 1616.  S. Ward, Coal fr. Altar (1627), 41. They ascribe it either to vaine glory, or couetousnesse; the only springs that set their wheeles on going.

471 1681.  Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 499. By these the Springs of Property were bent, And wound so high, they Crack’d the Government.

472 1720.  Ozell, Vertot’s Rom. Rep., II. XII. 214. The Springs Pompey set at work to deprive all the Commanders of the Commonwealth of their Posts.

473 1748.  J. Geddes, Composit. Antients, 15. The spring, the just tone of the soul, is broke.

474 1767.  A. Young, Farmer’s Lett. to People, 61. These men are yet more able … to put all the springs of a perfect culture in motion.

475 1815.  J. Cormack, Abol. Fem. Infanticide Guzerat, xiv. 278. The springs of this mighty political engine, however, have, generally speaking, already lost their elasticity.

476 1863.  Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. xiv. 255. Morny … prepared to touch the springs of that wondrous machinery by which a clerk can dictate to a nation.

477 1872.  Bagehot, Physics & Pol., 162. At once the fatal clog is removed, and the ordinary springs of progress … begin their elastic action.

478   (b)  1691.  Ray, Creation (1714), 47. What is the Spring and principal Efficient of this Reciprocation.

479 1717.  J. Keill, Anim. Oeconomy (1738), 150. Secretion is the Spring of all the animal Functions.

480 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 177. A strange Impression upon the Mind, from we know not what Springs, and by we know not what Power.

481 1774.  Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, II. 385. The spring or movement of such intercourse is … gain, or the hopes of gain.

482 1810.  S. Smith, in Edin. Rev., XV. 309. Instead of hanging the understanding of a woman upon walls,… we would make it the first spring and ornament of society.

483 1853.  Merivale, Rom. Rep., ii. (1867), 39. The love of gold was the sordid spring of the most brilliant enterprises of the republic.

484 1871.  Lowell, Pope, Wks. 1890, IV. 31. The exposer of those motives … whose spring is in institutions and habits of purely worldly origin.

485   b.  Freq. const. of action (or conduct).

486 1722.  Wollaston, Relig. Nat., ix. 173. The springs of all human actions.

487 1779.  Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 285. It is difficult … to come at the true springs of action.

488 1806.  Surr, Winter in Lond., III. 174. Whether public zeal and patriotic motives, were the springs of his lordship’s conduct.

489 1850.  Merivale, Rom. Emp., ii. (1865), I. 73. The real springs of human action were unknown to him, or disregarded by him.

490 1885.  J. Martineau, Types Eth. Th., II. II. iii. § 1. 518. Numerous springs of action and modes of feeling which neither interest nor reason could be shown to evolve.

491   c.  In the phr. springs of life.

492 1728–46.  Thomson, Spring, 329. While sickly damps, and cold autumnal fogs, Hung not, relaxing, on the springs of life.

493 1819.  Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1837), IV. viii. 268. A grief of that calm and concentrated kind which … gradually wastes the springs of life.

494   † d.  A device; a trick or artifice. Obs. rare.

495 1753.  Miss Collier, Art Torment., II. iii. (1811), 164. This method of granting favours in a disgustful manner, is one of our chief springs, and must be practised in as many connections as you possibly can introduce it.

496   24.  Naut. A rope put out from the end or side of a vessel lying at anchor, and made fast to the cable. (So G. spring, springtau.)

497 1744.  J. Philips, Jrnl. Exped. Anson, 156. We clapt a Spring on the Sheet-cable to prevent her from swinging.

498 1753.  Hanway, Trav., III. xlviii. (1762), I. 219. We were obliged to put a spring on our cable, in order to bring our guns to bear on them.

499 1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Spring is … a rope passed out of one extremity of a ship and attached to a cable proceeding from the other, when she lies at anchor.

500 1800.  Hull Advertiser, 16 Aug., 1/4. A gun-brig … moored with springs on her cables.

501 1836.  Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxx. He had warped round with the springs on his cable, and had recommenced his fire upon the Aurora.

502 1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 202. Slip the cable, and then the spring.

503   attrib.  1806.  A. Duncan, Nelson, 94. The French fleet…, moored on spring cables.

504   b.  (See quots.)

505 1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Spring is likewise a rope reaching diagonally from the stern of a ship to the head of another which lies along-side or abreast of her, at a short distance. Ibid., Springs of this sort are … occasionally applied from a ship to a wharf or key.

506 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Spring, a hawser laid out to some fixed object to slue a vessel proceeding to sea.

507   attrib.  1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Spring-line, in a ponton-bridge, a line passing diagonally from one ponton to another.

508   25.  attrib. a. Simple attrib. in various senses, esp. ‘fitted with a spring or springs,’ ‘acting like a spring,’ ‘of or pertaining to a spring,’ as spring-arbor, -balance, -bar, -barrel, -bed, etc.

509   The number of these is very great, and only the more important are illustrated here. Others are recorded and explained by Knight, Dict. Mech., and in recent Dicts.

510 1696.  W. Derham, Artif. Clock-m., 2. Next for the Spring. That which the Spring … laps about, in the middle of the Spring-box, is the *Spring-Arbor.

511 a. 1788.  Imison, Sch. Arts, I. 273. At the top of the spring-arbor, is the endless-screw, and its wheel.

512 1842.  Penny Cycl., XXII. 385. *Spring-balance, a machine in which the elasticity of a spring of tempered steel is employed as a means of measuring weight or force.

513 1889.  Science-Gossip, XXV. 36. If a body were resting on a delicate spring balance.

514 1856.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, 394. The *Spring-bar to which the stirrup-leather is attached, and which easily allows this part of saddle … to be set at liberty the moment the rider is hung by it.

515 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Spring-bar, a bar parallel with the axle and resting upon the middle of the elliptic spring.

516 1881.  W. E. Dickson, Organ-Build., v. 65. The spring-bar has a slip of wood … glued or bradded to it.

517 1850.  Denison, Clock & Watch-m., 110. It is all wound off the *spring barrel on to a fusee.

518 1846.  Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 913. The cloth … passes from a roller over a round bar, and comes in contact with the *spring bed, which is a long elastic plate of steel, fixed to the framing of the machine.

519 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Spring-bed, an elastic or air mattress.

520 1862.  Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 3579, Russell’s Camp Hospital Spring Bed or Dhoolee Stretcher.

521 1882.  Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, III. vi. 102. Jessie Bridgeman touched a *spring bell on the tea-table.

522 1786.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), II. 74. Your *spring-block for assisting a vessel in sailing cannot be tried here.

523 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Spring-block, a common block … connected to a ring-bolt by a spiral spring.

524 1634.  in Archaeol. (1853), XXXV. 199. One two-leaf wyndowe with longe boult, *springe boult, and staples.

525 1703.  R. Neve, City & C. Purchaser, 33. Ironmongers distinguish those for House-building, into … Plate, Round, and Spring Bolts.

526 1829.  Scott, Anne of G., xvi. ‘Enter here then, gentlemen,’ said the jailor, undoing the spring-bolt of a heavy door.

527 1892.  Photogr. Ann., II. 289. These fit over spring bolts projecting on either side from a block.

528 1693.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2896/4. Both wearing light bob Wigs, and … Camblet Coats,… with new *Spring Boots, and Spurs.

529 1776.  R. Daniel, in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Wearing App., III. (1876), 1. New kind of boots called spring boots.

530 1696.  W. Derham, Artif. Clock-m., 2. That which the Spring lies in, is the *Spring-box.

531 1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 500. The chain, which requires to be uncoiled from the spring-box.

532 1888.  Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 130. Spring-box, the receptacle at the head of the press holding the spring which acts on the bar-handle.

533 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Spring-braces, elastic suspenders for men’s trousers.

534 1888.  Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 130. *Spring brass, rules cast in flexible brass—the reverse of ‘soft’ or ‘bending’ brass rule.

535 1838.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 408/1. I claim, as my invention or improvement in carriages,… the peculiar adaptation of *spring buffers and spring fastenings.

536 1884.  F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 46. *Spring callipers … are useful when it is desired to retain a measurement.

537 1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 595. It terminates in a handle furnished with a *spring-catch.

538 1892.  Photogr. Ann., II. 273. The shutter … is held by a spring catch.

539 1843.  Penny Cycl., XXV. 425/1. On the large plate P, is a *spring-click.

540 1888.  Rutley, Rock-Forming Min., 18. The most generally useful contrivances are *spring clips.

541 1737.  Gentl. Mag., VII. 67. There are some *Spring Clocks and Watches, so contriv’d by Art as to lose no Time in winding.

542 1829.  Chapters Phys. Sci., 92. The wheels in the spring clocks and in watches are urged on by the force of a spiral spring.

543 1850.  Denison, Clock & Watch-m., 109. This inequality of force is removed in English spring clocks and watches.

544 1894.  T. W. Fox, Mech. Weaving, ix. 259. *Spring cords … consist of two wooden end-pieces … into which two wires … are driven.

545 1780.  Mirror, No. 80. The Elastic Cushion and *Spring Curls, which … are as natural and becoming … [as] the natural hair itself.

546 1858.  Greener, Gunnery, 323. Take a *spring cushion (something like the spring machine found at all fairs for testing the force of a man pressing against it).

547 1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 232. *Spring-dart, an arrow or fish-headed boring tool for extricating a lost implement, or for withdrawing lining tubes.

548 1873.  E. Spon, Workshop Receipts, Ser. I. 3/1. The differences of the distances … may be measured by *spring dividers.

549 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2750. The *spring-dog is depressed by a lever.

550 1886.  J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 63. Spring-dog, a spring hook used on a winding or haulage rope.

551 1826.  Scott, Woodstock, xiv. He would have Woodstock a trap,… you the *spring-fall which should bar their escape.

552 1838.  *Spring fastening [see Spring buffer].

553 1812.  Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 136. The danger attending the use of the *spring-flask in shooting.

554 1895.  Strand Mag., 113. In the Hall a *spring floor has been laid over the ordinary hard oak boards.

555 1846.  Brittan, trans. Malgaigne’s Man. Oper. Surg., 374. Place in the wound either a canula, or a *spring forceps whose branches hold its edges open.

556 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Spring Forelock, one jagged or split at the point, thereby forming springs to prevent its drawing.

557 1797.  J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 67. 2 of them [double spring beams] go 18 or 20 inches through the main wall for the convenience of fixing the outside *spring frame.

558 1780.  Mirror, No. 68. The last time I came from London I brought down a parcel of *spring garters.

559 1841.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., IV. 13/1. A full description of the four instruments employed … to determine the pressure of the steam,… namely, the barometer-gauge,… and the *spring-gauge.

560 1850.  Holtzapffel, Turning, III. 1254. Long conical holes, such as axletree boxes, are sometimes ground upon the *spring grinder.

561 1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. xxii. (Roxb.), 277. The second is a *Spring Hooke, or Springer; it is a kind of double Hook with a spring,… which being strucken into the mouth of any fish, the 2 hooks fly asunder, and so keeps the fish mouth open.

562 1862.  Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6089, Spring hooks, curb chains, pole chains.

563 1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 232. Spring hook, an iron hook attached to the end of a winding capstan, or crab rope, fitted with a spring for closing the opening, and thus preventing the kibble, &c., from falling off.

564 1835–6.  Owen, in Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 287/2. It has been denied that the *spring-joint [of birds] ever exists at the knee.

565 1901.  P. Marshall, Metal-w. Tools, 14. In this pattern the legs have a spring joint at the top which tends to keep them apart.

566 1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 325. With the mortar and levigating stone, a *spring-knife is very useful.

567 1882.  Encycl. Brit., xiv. 323. The turner giving the rotation by means of the treadle and *spring-lath attached to the ceiling.

568 1852.  Seidel, Organ, 128. The palate, together with its spring, must be taken out. For this purpose an instrument called a *spring lever is used.

569 1858.  *Spring machine [see spring cushion above].

570 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Spring-mattress, one having metallic springs beneath the hair or moss filling.

571 1843.  Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 135. When the elastic tool, or *‘spring passer,’ has been compressed,… it is put in motion.

572 1831.  J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 16. The workman takes what he calls a *spring piercer, a tool … consisting of two somewhat elastic steel blades.

573 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Spring-pin, in the English practice, a rod between the springs and axle-boxes, to regulate the pressure on the axles.

574 1881.  Greener, Gun, 263. It … may be removed by completely turning out the spring pin.

575 1837.  W. B. Adams, Carriages, 123. The elasticity of a *spring plate somewhat resembles the elasticity of a common cane.

576 1888.  Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 130. *Spring points, these are a special kind of press points which assist in throwing the sheet off the spur of the point as printed.

577 1831.  J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 87. The cumbersome wooden frame-work of the old forges, including the timber, *spring-pole and hammer beam.

578 1837.  Hebert, Engin. & Mech. Encycl., II. 814. The string is fastened to the end of the spring-pole in a similar manner.

579 1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 233. Spring pole, a fir pole having considerable elasticity, to which the boring rods are suspended.

580 1662.  H. More, Antid. Ath., II. ii. § 10. Which Pressure (as in all flexible Bodies that have a *Spring-power in them) is perpetual.

581 1853.  Ure, Dict. Arts (ed. 4), II. 831. The action of the *spring-presser is to consolidate the roving.

582 1694.  Phil. Trans., XVIII. 103. Its shape is not very unlike to a sort of *Spring-Purse (as they are called) which many people use.

583 1701.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3739/4. A striped Silk Spring-Purse.

584 1860.  All Year Round, No. 57. 162. A hundred *spring rattles would not realise the noise.

585 1850.  Denison, Clock & Watch-m., 239. I have lately seen some small French clocks with a *spring remontoire on the second wheel.

586 1836–7.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Tales, i. There were meat-safe-looking blinds … and *spring-roller blinds.

587 1687.  J. Smith, Art Painting (ed. 2), 11. With a fine *Spring-Saw, cut it into scantlings.

588 1778.  Life T. Boulter, 57. A certain sum to procure some spring saws.

589 1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxiii. She had procured … spring-saw for me.

590 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Spring-searcher, a steel-pronged tool to search for defects in the bore of a gun.

591 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Spring-seat, a chair or couch with a spring in it.

592 1862.  Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4721, Elliptical spring-seat saddle, and tree showing action of spring.

593 1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Spring Seat, the support for the lower part of a spring, shaped according to circumstances.

594 1839.  T. C. Hofland, Brit. Angler’s Man., v. (1841), 124. The *spring-snap was formerly much in use.

595 1856.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, 256. The *Spring Snap-Bait is … composed of a case which connects and keeps in place the shanks of the hooks…, but which, when drawn out, expand by their own elasticity. Ibid. The snap-hook is either the plain or the *spring snap-hook.

596 1864.  Athenæum, 27 Feb., 294. Pulling the door quickly after them, so as to hasp the *spring-sneck in the brass lock.

597 1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 266. Upon the glass arm is cemented a piece of brass r, containing a *spring socket.

598 1871.  Voyle, Milit. Dict. (ed. 2), *Spring spike, in artillery, a spike with a spring attached to it, used for rendering a gun temporarily unserviceable.

599 1837.  W. B. Adams, Carriages, 126. Leathern braces … were supported by a bracket or buttress of iron called the *‘Spring Stay.’

600 1841.  R. H. Dana, Seaman’s Man., 125. Spring-stay, a preventer-stay, to assist the regular one.

601 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Spring-Stays, are rather smaller than the stays, and are placed above them, being intended as substitutes should the main one be shot away.

602 1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 84. To put an oak solid two-light proper frame … with … *spring stay-irons (irons to keep the window open) to the back kitchen.

603 1837.  W. B. Adams, Carriages, 135. For this reason it would be advantageous to use *spring-steel in lieu of iron.

604 1843.  Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 192. Its superior elasticity also adapts it to the formation of springs; some kinds of steel are prepared expressly for the same under the name of spring-steel.

605 1868.  Joynson, Metals, 78. When blistered steel has to be drawn out or reduced by the rolls, it forms ‘spring steel.’

606 1880.  W. Carnegie, Pract. Trapping, 50. Arrange the nooses in such a manner that if one of them or the crutched stick is touched the latter falls, and releasing the crosspiece, the *spring-stick flies up, and the bird with it.

607 1884.  C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Rec., Ser. III. 74/2. The *spring-studs must of course be insulated from the clock-plate.

608 1778.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), III. 2171. To remove these inconveniencies, some needles are made of one piece of steel of a *spring temper.

609 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2061. They are polished, and then brought to ‘spring temper’ by heating.

610 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 579. This opening is then enlarged, by introducing the blade of a pair of *spring-tongs.

611 1859.  R. Hunt, Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2), 103. Several of the tools [for glass-making] are exhibited,… the *spring tool, the shears, &c.

612 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Spring-tool, the light tongs of the glass-blower whereby handles and light objects are grasped.

613 1616.  Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 648. Some *spring-trappes, to snickle or halter either bird or beast.

614 1800.  Mar. Edgeworth, Belinda, xxii. A man whose leg had … been caught in the spring-trap.

615 1820.  T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. 80. There is generally some covert meaning in the names of Aristophanes…; his readers’ feet are always treading on spring-traps.

616 1710.  Addison, Tatler, No. 224, ¶ 5. Little cuts and figures, the invention of which we must ascribe to the Author of *Spring-Trusses.

617 1790.  Ann. Reg., Hist., 115/2. Among these arms were some walking sticks with *spring-tucks concealed within them.

618 1714.  Mandeville, Fab. Bees (1733), II. 177. If he was wholly unacquainted with the nature of a *spring-watch.

619 a. 1825.  in J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 523. This locking … has … the advantage … of being firmer, and less liable to be out of repair, than any locking where *spring-work is used.

620 1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 299. ‘Spring work,’… that is, any articles in which springs are introduced.

621   b.  With the names of vehicles, in the sense ‘having springs, hung or suspended on springs,’ as spring ambulance, -carriage, -cart, -van, -wagon.

622 1864.  Sala, in Daily Tel., 6 April, 5/2. A couple of *spring ambulances, drawn by four horses apiece, had consequently been provided to convey the ladies and the civilians to the festival.

623 1842.  Penny Cycl., XXII. 386. C-springs … were formerly used for almost all kinds of *spring-carriages.

624 1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxxix. You’ll drive her over in the *spring-cart.

625 1860.  Dickens, Uncomm. Trav., v. She shall be fetched by niece in a spring-cart.

626 1900.  H. Lawson, On Track, 86. It was her mother an’ sister in the spring-cart,… the doctor in his buggy.

627 1836–7.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Scenes, xii. The charge of having once made the passage in a *spring-van. Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., I. x. A spring van is delivering its load of greenhouse plants at the door.

628 1837.  W. B. Adams, Carriages, 117. The tax to which *spring vehicles are subject.

629 1794.  Gentl. Mag., LXIV. II. 1074. The best thing to be done generally … is to put the patient into a *spring-waggon.

630 1849.  Sir F. B. Head, Stokers & Pokers, viii. Each species of goods … is immediately unloaded and despatched by spring waggons to its destination.

631 1897.  Beatrice Harraden, Hilda Strafford, 101. The horses were plunging in the mud, and the spring-waggon had sunk up to the hubs.

632   c.  In similar combs. used attributively or objectively, as spring-blade knife, etc.

633 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Spring-blade knife, a pocket-knife whose blade is thrown out or held out by a spring.

634 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Spring-blind maker, a maker of window blinds working on springs.

635 1853.  in Inquiry, Yorksh. Deaf & Dumb (1870), 30. *Spring-knife manufacturer. Ibid. (1870), 34. A spring-knife cutler.

636 1874.  Lawson, Dis. Eye, 94. A *spring-stop speculum … is to be introduced between the [eye-] lids, so as to keep them apart.

637 1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 32. With these *Spring-teeth-Rakes one person is said to do considerably more work than with the common wood rakes.

638 1890.  W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 138. Another *spring tong arrangement, in which the legs are wood.

639 1867.  J. Hogg, Microsc., I. ii. 157. This consists of a *spring-wire coil acting on an inner tube.

640   26.  Comb. a. With agent-nouns (denoting persons or implements), as spring-contractor, -forger, -maker.

641 1843.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., VI. 245. Description of Lieutenant D. Rankine’s [Railway] *Spring Contractor.

642 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Spring-forgers, workmen in the cutlery trade, who form the spring or piece of steel at the back of clasp and folding pocket-knives.

643 1837.  W. B. Adams, Carriages, 81. The *spring-makers assert that steel of a finer quality would not answer so well.

644 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Spring-maker, a manufacturer of steel compound springs for carriages, or of metal springs for easy chairs.

645 1896.  Daily News, 22 June, 11/3. At West Bromwich there is a strike amongst the spring makers.

646   b.  With vbl. sbs. and pres. pples., as spring-making, -shaping.

647 1837.  W. B. Adams, Carriages, 123. It is evident that the whole process of spring-making is defective.

648 1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 848. Spring Shaping Machine.

649 1890.  W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 151. Two smithies, with over 100 fires, and turning and spring-making shops.

650   c.  With pa. pples. or adjs., as spring-framed, -jointed, -snecked, -tempered, -tight.

651   Spring-heeled Jack, a name given to a person who from his great activity in running or jumping, esp. in order to rob or frighten people, was supposed to have springs in the heels of his boots; dial. a highwayman.

652 1899.  J. Pennell, in Fortn. Rev., LXV. 113. I ought also to mention a *spring-framed machine, the Triumph, with curved tubing.

653 1838.  Standard, 22 Feb., 4/6. For God’s sake bring me a light, for we have caught *Spring-heeled Jack here in the lane.

654 1840.  Hood, Kilmansegg, Fancy Ball, xi. Tom, and Jerry, and *Spring-heel’d Jack.

655 1855.  Smedley, Occult Sciences, 76. Like the lately popular Spring-heeled Jack.

656 1887.  S. Cheshire Gloss., 367. There are so many o’ these Spring-heeled Jacks about.

657 1786.  in 6th Rep. Dep. Kpr. Pub. Rec., II. 174. A Buckle … with a new-constructed *spring-jointed Plate.

658 1853.  R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour (1893), 120. He had never been able to accomplish the art of opening a gate, especially one of those gingerly-balanced, *spring-snecked things.

659 a. 1788.  Imison, Sch. Arts, II. 164. A piece of *spring-tempered steel will not retain as much magnetism as hard steel.

660 1876.  Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 82. This is effected by means of a carrier arm fixed *‘spring-tight’ on an axle.

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