[f. SPRING sb.1, in various senses.]
† 1. trans. To allow (timber or ground) to send up shoots from the stools of felled trees. Obs.
1690. Lett., in Hunter MSS., VII, No. 200. I have ordered the workmen to hedg in two Acres of Ground allready sprung 2 yards high…. I shall spring more if you require it.
2. intr. To pass or spend the season of spring at a place. rare–1.
1835. Fraser’s Mag., XI. 507. Every third man has wintered at Naples, springed at Vienna.
3. trans. To give spring or elasticity to.
1843. E. Jones, Poems, Sens. & Event, 115. To measureless action spring’d by her in a moment.
1875. F. J. Bird, Dyer’s Hand-bk., 54. The wool will come out of this bath rather dirty and grey-looking. In order to spring it [etc.].
4. To provide or fit with a spring or springs.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 246. Sprung above [or] Sprung over [is] a watch in which the balance spring is attached to the staff above the balance.
1905. Automobile Topics, 27 May, 491 (Cent. Suppl.). Having learned to properly spring horse-drawn and railway carriages.
