Also 7 springal. [? f. SPRING sb.3] A springe or snare. Also fig.

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1602.  Carew, Cornwall, 24. They [woodcocks] arriue first on the North coast, where almost euerie hedge serveth for a Roade, and euerie plashoote for Springles to take them.

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1654.  Vilvain, Theorem. Theol., Supp. 230. Men may catch … Woodcocks in Springals.

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c. 1720.  De Foe, An Apparition (1841), 259. In the springle their courtship had laid for me.

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1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., ix. The … netting of the woodcocks, and the springles to be minded in the garden.

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1880.  W. Carnegie, Pract. Trap., vii. The Springe or Springle—Its application in a variety of ways.

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  attrib.  1875.  Blackmore, Alice Lorraine, I. xviii. 197. The rod bowed like a springle-bow.

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