Part 688

The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green.

Pope.

Sprig"tail` (?), n. (Zoöl.) (a) The pintail duck; -- called also sprig, and spreet-tail. [Local, U.S.] (b) The sharp-tailed grouse. [Local, U.S.]

Spring (?), v. i. [imp. Sprang (?) or Sprung (&?;); p. p. Sprung; p. pr. & vb. n. Springing.] [AS. springan; akin to D. & G. springen, OS. & OHG. springan, Icel. & Sw. springa, Dan. springe; cf. Gr. &?; to hasten. Cf. Springe, Sprinkle.]

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.

Milton.

8. To grow; to prosper.

What makes all this, but Jupiter the king, At whose command we perish, and we spring?