Dictionary

springe en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /spɹɪnd͡ʒ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English sprengen, from Old English sprenġan, sprenġċan, from Proto-West Germanic *sprangijan, from Proto-Germanic *sprangijaną (“to cause to spring”). See sprinkle.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) To sprinkle; to scatter.

Forms

Deriveds

besprenge

springe en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /spɹɪnd͡ʒ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English spreng, a variant of spring with the form of sprengen.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A snare.
   • ’twas my joy / With store of springes o’er my shoulder hung / To range the open heights where woodcocks run / Along the smooth green turf. c. 1799, William Wordsworth, The Prelude, London: Moxon, published 1850, Book 1, Introduction, p. 16:
   • Look how a mavis, or a pigeòn, / In any grove caught with a springe or net […] 1614: The Odysses of Homer by George Chapman, book 23 line 594
   • With hairy Sprindges we the Birds betray 1714: The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope, 2nd edn., canto 2 line 25
   • Ay, springes to catch woodcocks c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], line 114:

Forms

springe en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /spɹɪnd͡ʒ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English spreng, a variant of spring with the form of sprengen.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To catch in a springe; to ensnare.
   • By an active poacher who had hit a hare / From the other barrel, tired of springeing game 1866, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, and Other Poems, page 310:

Forms