See Also: beard 2, verb(dictionary)
spring 2, verb(dictionary)
beard(1)(dictionary)
beard(2)(dictionary)
Beard(medicine)
Aaron's beard(dictionary)
beard 1, noun(dictionary)
Monk' s beard(recipes)
ringworm of beard(medicine)
goat's-beard(dictionary)

spring(1) (iou) and beard 2, verb (oh)


spring(1) (iou)



spring noun1.
[Old English spring, spryng from Germanic base of SPRING verb1. In branch I cf. Middle & mod. Dutch, Middle & mod. Low German, Old High German spring.]
I.
The source or head of a well, stream, or river. Freq. foll. by of. Now rare. OE.
A flow of water etc. rising or welling naturally from the earth; a similar flow of water, oil, etc., obtained by boring etc.; a place where such a flow rises. ME.
H. Belloc No good drinking water in that land, save..at a rare spring.
b. Such a flow of water having special (esp. medicinal or curative) properties; in pl., a town or locality having such springs, a spa, a watering-place. L18.
E. Burritt A mineral spring at which the visitors drink most voluminously. H. Allen Sitting in the hot springs at Royat with a half dozen Other invalids.
fig. A source or origin of something. ME.
life-spring: see LIFE noun.
T. C. Wolfe He had returned to the springs of innocence..from whence he came.
II.
The action or time of coming into being; the first sign of day etc., dawn; the beginning of a season. obsolete exc. poet. ME.
day-spring: see DAY noun.
The first season of the year, between winter and summer, in which vegetation begins to appear: in the northern hemisphere freq. regarded as comprising March, April, and May or (Astronomy) reckoned from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice; in the southern hemisphere corresponding in time to the northern autumn. LME.
A. Wilson The promising early spring had turned to a wet summer. J. Wright The Cyrenaicans lost heavily during tough fighting in the spring of 1914. Daily Star The..10-part series, is due to be screened next spring.
b. fig. The first or early stage or period of life etc. L16.
Lytton Ap?cides was in the spring of his years.
c. N. Amer. In full spring salmon. A Pacific salmon that returns to the river in spring, esp. the Chinook salmon. M19.
d. transf. The initial stages of a period of political liberalization, esp. in a Communist state; the first steps in a programme of political and economic reform. Cf. PRAGUE Spring. E20.
III. A young shoot of a tree, plant, etc.; a small branch, a twig. Also, a cutting, a slip. ME-M17.
b. A young tree, a sapling. L15-M16.
A grove, wood, or plantation of young trees; a spinney (foll. by of wood etc.). Now dial. LME.
b. Young growth or shoots, esp. the undergrowth of trees or shrubs. Now dial. L15.
A growth or crop of plants, vegetation, etc. Formerly also, a people, a race. Now rare. LME.
IV. Beginning, origin, birth, (of something). ME-L17.
a. The rising of the sea (to an exceptional height) at particular times. LME-L16.
b. = spring tide (b) below. Usu. in pl. L16.
An act of springing; a bound, a jump, a leap. LME.
W. Scoresby I made a spring towards a boat..and caught hold of the gunwale.
b. A recoil or rebound of something bent or forced out of its normal position or form. L17.
E. K. Kane The spring of a well-drawn bow.
c. A distance able to be covered by a spring or leap. E19.
d. An escape or rescue from prison. slang. E20.
A flock of teal. arch. LME.
A cut or joint of pork consisting of the belly or lower part of the forequarter. obsolete exc. dial. L16.
Nautical. A crack or split in a mast, plank, spar, etc. E17.
The quality of springing; the ability of a thing to spring back strongly to its normal state or position on the removal of force or pressure; elasticity. M17.
W. Hogarth A small wire that has lost its spring.
b. Liveliness in a person or of a person's mind, faculties, etc.; buoyancy and vigour in movement. Freq. in a spring in one's step. L17.
a. Architecture. The point at which an arch rises from its abutment or impost; rare the rise of an arch, the ascent or slope of a bridge. E18.
b. The upward curvature of a beam or plank from a horizontal line, esp. on a ship's deck. M19.
c. The rise of the toe of a shoemaker's last above the ground-line. L19.
V.
A device, usu. of bent or coiled metal, having the ability to return to its normal shape on the removal of force or pressure and used esp. to drive clockwork or for cushioning in furniture or vehicles. LME.
M. Shadbolt The jangle of easing chair springs as his father stood up. Woodworker The invention of the coiled spring..released a flood of small portable timepieces.
b. fig. The cause, motive, or agency of something; an impelling force. L15.
W. Bagehot The ordinary springs of progress..begin their elastic action.
Nautical. A rope put out from a vessel and made fast for anchorage or to aid movement or manoeuvring. Also spring line. M18.
Attrib. & comb.: In the senses 'of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the season of spring', 'appearing or happening in spring', as spring Fashion, spring holiday, spring lamb, spring weather, etc.; 'sown or suitable for sowing in spring', as spring barley, spring corn, etc.; 'fitted with, operated by, or acting like a spring', as spring bolt, spring suspension, spring trap, etc. Special combs., as spring balance: that measures weight by the tension of a spring; spring Beauty any of several succulent spring-flowering, chiefly N. American, pink- or white-flowered plants of the genera Claytonia and Montia, of the purslane family, esp. C. virginica and C. perfoliata; spring bed a bed with a spring mattress; spring-beetle = click-beetle s.v. CLICK noun1; spring bows = bow-compass s.v. BOW noun1; spring cabbage any variety of cabbage that matures in the spring; spring chicken: see CHICKEN noun1; spring-clean verb & noun (a) verb trans. & intrans. perform thorough cleaning of (a house, room, etc.), esp. in spring (freq. as spring-cleaning verbal noun); (b) noun an act, spell, or instance of such cleaning; spring collet Engineering a tapered collet that is slotted along much of its length, so that when moved in a similarly tapered seat the separate parts are pressed against the stock inside the collet; spring equinox = vernal equinox s.v. VERNAL adjective 1; spring fever a restless or lethargic feeling sometimes associated with spring; spring Garden (a) a public Garden; (b) a Garden containing many spring-flowering plants; spring grass sweet vernal grass, Anthoxanthum odoratum; spring green noun & adjective (of) a light green; spring greens the leaves of young non-hearting cabbage plants, used as a vegetable; also, a cabbage of a variety that matures in spring; spring-gun (a) a gun discharged by bodily contact or with a wire etc. attached to the trigger, formerly used as a trap for trespassers, poachers, etc.; (b) a toy gun in which the projectile is discharged by the release of a spring; spring hare, springhare [African SPRINGHAAS] a large nocturnal rodent, Pedetes capensis (family Pedetidae), resembling a miniature kangaroo, which is found on the grasslands of S. and E. Africa and is a pest of farmland; springhead = senses 2, 3 above; spring herring N. Amer. = ALEWIFE 2; spring-house N. Amer. an outhouse built over a spring or stream and used as a larder, dairy, etc.; spring-jack = click-beetle s.v. CLICK noun1; spring line (a) see sense 18 above; (b) a line where the water-table reaches the surface and along which springs are numerous; spring-loaded adjective containing a compressed or a stretched spring pressing one part against another; spring lock a self-locking form of lock featuring a spring-loaded bolt; spring mattress a mattress containing or consisting of springs; spring onion an onion taken from the ground before the bulb has formed, eaten in salads (esp. raw), in Chinese cookery, etc.; spring peeper a small brown tree frog, Hyla crucifer, that occurs throughout much of eastern N. America and has a high-pitched piping call; spring rate: see RATE noun1 5c; spring roll a Chinese snack consisting of a pancake filled with Vegetables (esp. bean sprouts), meat, etc., and fried; spring salmon N. Amer. = sense 5c above; spring snowflake: see SNOWFLAKE 3; spring squill: see SQUILL 1b; springtide (a) arch. & poet. the season of spring, springtime; (b) (usu. as two words) a tide occurring just after the new and full moon, in which there is the greatest difference between high and low water; spring Training Baseball pre-season Fitness and skills Training taking place in spring; spring usher: see USHER noun 4b; spring water water from a spring as opp. to that from rain or a river (freq. bottled and sold as being healthy); spring-wood (a) a copse of young trees; (b) = early wood s.v. EARLY adjective.
springless adjective L17.
springlet noun (a) a young sprout or shoot; (b) a small spring or fountain: M18.
springlike adverb & adjective (a) adverb as in or in the manner of the season of spring; (b) adjective resembling (that of) spring, vernal: M16.
springling noun (rare) (a) a youth; (b) a year-old salmon: M17.

beard 2, verb (oh)



2 v [T]
beard sb (in their den)
to go and see someone who has influence or authority, and tell them what you want, why you disagree with them etc