Dictionary

mainspring en · NOUN

Etymology

From main + spring. For figurative sense, compare spring (“source, origin”).

Meanings

1. The principal spring of a clockwork mechanism, which drives it by uncoiling.
   • He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away. 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
2. (figuratively) The most important reason for, or element of, something.
   • My daughter is the mainspring of my life.
   • But in the England of Shakespeare’s history plays, the mainspring of the system has broken down. 2014 November 2, Paul Mason, “What Shakespeare taught me about Marxism”, in The Guardian:
   • The principles of empiricism and utilitarianism, which lay down that human beings are neither good nor bad by nature but only by upbringing, that interest is the mainspring of morality, and so forth, naturally lead us to inquire what social conditions are necessary to make the community of mankind a reality. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 151:

Forms

Translations (22)

es resorte motor (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · et vedru (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · de Triebfeder (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · vi dây cót chính (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · fr ressort moteur (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · ja ぜんまいばね (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · tr zemberek (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · th ลาน (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · fi vieteri (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · kn ಪ್ರಧಾನ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆ (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · zh 發條 /发条 (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · ca ressort motor (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · arz زمبلك (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · hy զսպանակ (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · gv ard-lheimaghan (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · de Antriebsfeder (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · ur بڑی کمانی (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · io granda resorto (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · kmr zenbelka serekî (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · pl sprężyna napędowa (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · de Hauptfeder (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism) · it susta (the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism)