Dictionary

springy en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈspɹɪŋi/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From spring + -y.

Meanings

1. That returns rapidly to its original form (as a spring does) after being bent, compressed, stretched, etc.
   • The hard woods were used for pegging, the soft woods for cradling the load and the springy woods for carrying it. 2013, Eric Sloane, Weather Almanac, →ISBN, page 48:
   • The soft peat was springy under her feet.
   • We had now reach'd the closest point of union; but when he backened to come on the fiercer, as if I had been actuated by a fear of losing him, in the height of my fury I twisted my legs round his naked loins, the flesh of which, so firm, so springy to the touch, quiver'd again under the pressure 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
   • What returning director Genndy Tartakovsky reveres is animation—and not necessarily the wonders of photorealistic follicle creation or impeccably rendered water, but the kind of gloriously exaggerated movement, the stretchy and springy caricature, that enlivens many classic cartoons. , Jesse Hassenger, “Improbably but amusingly, Hotel Transylvania 3 notches a series best”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2018:
2. Lively; bouncy.
   • Shangrila and Linda is an outstandingly uneven book -- sometimes it's fun and springy, and other times it's irritating and boring. 1982 April 10, Andrea Loewenstein, “Daily Life”, in Gay Community News, page 11:
   • Every step—a light click of the heel and then a springy step, optimistic, perhaps a bit contemptuous. 2005, Adam Zachary Newton, The Elsewhere: On Belonging at a Near Distance, →ISBN, page 270:
3. Characteristic of the spring season.
   • It was springy weather after Easter, and she wore a pale lavender silk dress with myriad little ruchings down the front, each edged with a narrow band of real lace. 1947, Gulielma Fell Alsop, Deer Creek: The Story of a Golden Childhood, page 276:
   • After our few brief days of springy weather it surely is a sudden change. 2015, Marian Baldwin, Canteening Overseas 1917-1919:
   • We had a blizzard, a thaw, a spell of springy weather, and James baked me a heart-shaped white clam pizza for Valentine's Day. 2014, Kitty Burns Florey, Vigil for a Stranger, →ISBN:
4. Of land, having many springs (of water).

Forms

Antonyms

unspringy

Deriveds

springily · springiness · unspringy

Synonyms

jaunty (lively) · vigorous (lively) · bouncy (that returns to its original form) · bouncy (lively) · springlike (characteristic of spring) · resilient (that returns to its original form) · mild (characteristic of spring) · energetic (lively) · elastic (that returns to its original form)

Translations (18)

es elástico (capable of returning to its original form) · fi kimmoisa (capable of returning to its original form) · nl elastisch (capable of returning to its original form) · fi joustava (capable of returning to its original form) · sv elastisk (capable of returning to its original form) · bg пружиниращ (capable of returning to its original form) · fr élastique (capable of returning to its original form) · gl elástico (capable of returning to its original form) · bg еластичен (capable of returning to its original form) · pt elástico (capable of returning to its original form) · it elastico (capable of returning to its original form) · ga lingeach (capable of returning to its original form) · io elastika (capable of returning to its original form) · mi tāwariwari (capable of returning to its original form) · ca elàstic (capable of returning to its original form) · ru упру́гий (capable of returning to its original form) · de elastisch (capable of returning to its original form) · pl elastyczny (capable of returning to its original form)