[f. SPRING v.1]
1. Of plants, etc.: Sprouting, growing. Also in fig. context.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 35. So semly a sede moȝt fayly not, Þat spryngande spycez vp ne sponne.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, XII. Prol. 90. The spray bysprent with spryngand sproutis dispers.
1592. Soliman & Pers., V. iv. Ah, Perseda, how shall I mourne for thee? Faire springing Rose, ill pluckt before thy time.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 417. If springing things be anie iot diminisht, They wither in their prime.
1631. P. Fletcher, Piscatory Eclog., VII. xix. The starres [change] their courses, flowers their springing pride.
1694. Prior, Hymn to the Sun, ii. As His Infant Months bestow Springing Wreaths for William’s Brow.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 208. These springing Leaves require Nourishment.
1743. Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, V. xvi. 62. Nor heats excessive burn the springing grain.
1829. Lytton, Disowned, 17. A glimpse of the green sward, and springing flowers, of a small garden.
1891. Science-Gossip, XXVII. 66. When the air grows soft on the springing corn we need no longer sigh over the hidden fate of Romulus.
b. fig. Coming into existence; beginning to develop; rising; just appearing or commencing.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 1 Tim. 5. I persecuted the springing glory of the Gospel.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. iii. § 2. Prophecies … are not fulfilled punctually at once, but haue springing and germinant accomplishment.
1639. S. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 92. This little child … had so many springing graces … that she promised ere long to be a Paragon of beauty;.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, I. I. 12. Neither did he … cultivate his springing fortune with an assiduity and diligence unbecoming his Spirit, and Blood.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 796. These rites to piety and grief discharged, The friendly gods a springing gale enlarged.
1781. Cowper, Ep. Prot. Lady, 32. Sudden sorrow nips their springing joys.
1821. Shelley, Hellas, 56. Thermopylae and Marathon Caught … The springing Fire.
c. fig. Of youth, or of persons in respect of this.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Feb., 52. I scorne thy skill, That wouldest me, my springing youngth to spil.
1592. G. Harvey, Four Lett., Wks. (Grosart), I. 219. I speake generally to euery springing wit.
a. 1604. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 200. In his springing yeeres hee suckt the sweet milk of good learning.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., I. § 1. Her person was young, her yeers florid and springing.
1822. Lamb, Elia, I. Decay Beggars. The Blind Beggar … seated … with his more fresh and springing daughter by his side.
d. Characterized by growth.
1634. W. Tirwhyt, trans. Balzac’s Lett., 108. You may spend here with us, one of these warm and Springing Winters, laden with Roses.
2. Rising or flowing out of the ground. Also in fig. context.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvii. (Machor), 528. Quhare a fare sted was, enhournyt with treis sere, & spryngand wellis.
1483. Cath. Angl., 356/2. Spryngynge, scaturiens.
c. 1490. R. Kemerston, in Itin. W. de Worcester (1778), 355. The water of Dee begynneth at a springynge welle in a hille side.
1535. Coverdale, Lev. xiv. 5. He shall take the lyuynge byrde with the Ceder wodd,… and dyppe them in the bloude of the slaine byrde vpon the springynge water.
1560. Rolland, Seven Sages, 97. Thow springand well of vice.
1635. Swan, Spec. M., vi. § 2 (1643), 196. The differing qualitie of springing waters.
1704. Trapp, Abra-Mulé, I. i. The springing Fountains of my Eyes.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., viii. (1858), 330. Pella, so called by the Macedonian Greeks from the springing fountain.
3. Coming into view; dawning.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 1. And Titan … Gan cleare the deawy ayre with springing light.
1648. Crashaw, Poems (1904), 144. Taint not the pure streames of the springing Day.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., IV. ii. (1848), 174. Among all Birds…, scarce any give so early and so sweet a welcome to the Springing day.
4. Resilient, elastic.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 440. A springing wire C, with a bended end F.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Sounding, At a little Distance is a piece of Lead or Stone fix’d, by means of a springing Wire.
1743. Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, V. ii. 35. He sets the springing share, To catch the stranger crane, or timorous hare.
1879. J. Burroughs, Locusts & Wild Honey, 128. A luxurious couch of boughs upon springing poles was prepared.
5. That springs, leaps or bounds.
c. 1760. Smollett, Ode Leven-Water, 13. The springing trout in speckled pride.
1803. Shaw, Gen. Zool., IV. II. 623. Springing Gurnard, Trigla Evolans.
1836–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., II. 861/2. Elateridæ, or springing-beetles, which are commonly known in their state or larvæ, as the wire-worm.
6. Of movement, etc.: Characterized by leaping or resilience.
1674. Sir W. Petty (title), Discourse … concerning the use of duplicate proportion … with a new hypothesis of springing or elastique motions.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. xiii. With short and springing footstep pass The trembling bog and false morass.
1893. Selous, Trav. S. E. Africa, 439. The bull … went off at once into a springing gallop.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 901. A centre concerned with the co-ordination of springing movements in the legs.
7. Of cows or heifers: Near to calving.
1693. Lond. Gaz., No. 2898/4. The red was a Springing Cow, with a small star in the Forehead.
1856. Morton, Cycl. Agric., II. 726/1. Springing (Warwicks.), applied to heifers in calf; beginning to show signs of milk.
8. Law. = CONTINGENT a. 9.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 334. Herein these, which are called contingent or springing, uses differ from an executory devise.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 274. A springing or shifting use cannot be defeated or destroyed by a fine levied of the estate out of which such springing or shifting use is to arise. Ibid., VI. 504. If this springing trust, to arise on the contingency of a marriage, was good, why should not the springing trust in the present case be equally good.
1845. Williams, Real Prop. (1877), 290. Executory interests created under the Statute of Uses are called springing or shifting uses.
9. Rising in, or forming, a curve.
1799. [A. Young], Agric. Linc., 358. The hind quarters so corresponding, with a springing rib, as to form an oval.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 579. It is required to find the curvature of the springing ribs.
1872. Shipley, Gloss. Eccl. Terms, 263. That stone in an arch which is equally distant from its springing extremities.
10. Causing game-birds to rise.
1842. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, 72. Well-bred and well-taught springing spaniels were abundant.
Hence Springingly adv.
1837. Verlander, Vestal, etc., 76. The barb steps not so springingly upon his native plain.
1891. Meredith, One of our Conq., I. xiii. 251. The thought was tonic for an instant and illuminated him springingly.
