Spring v. i. [imp. Sprang or Sprung p. p. Sprung; p. pr. & vb. n. Springing.]
1. To leap; to bound; to jump.
The mountain stag that springs
From height to height, and bounds along the plains. --Philips.
2. To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot.
And sudden light
Sprung through the vaulted roof. --Dryden.
3. To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert.
Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring. --Otway.
4. To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.
5. To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped; as, a piece of timber, or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning.
6. 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.
Till well nigh the day began to spring. --Chaucer.
To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. --Job xxxviii. 27.
Do not blast my springing hopes. --Rowe.
O, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born. --Pope.
7. To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle.
[They found] new hope to spring
Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked. --Milton.
8. To grow; to thrive; to prosper.
What makes all this, but Jupiter the king,
At whose command we perish, and we spring? --Dryden.
To spring at, to leap toward; to attempt to reach by a leap.
To spring forth, to leap out; to rush out.
To spring in, to rush in; to enter with a leap or in haste.
To spring on or To spring upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault.