▪ I. springe, n.
(sprɪndʒ)
Also 3, 6 sprenge, 5 sprynge, 7–8 sprindge.
[app. repr. OE. *spręncg, related to sprenge v. and spring v.1 Cf. the later spring n.3]
1. A snare for catching small game, esp. birds.
| α c 1250 Owl & Night. 1066 Þi song mai beo so longe genge, Þat þu schalt hwippen on a sprenge. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiv. xliii, Þere beþ manye foulers þat leggeþ and setteþ nettes, springes, and grenes. 1594 Barnfield Aff. Shepherd ii. ix. (Arb) 13 Wilt thou set springes in a frostie Night To catch the long-billd Woodcocke and the Snype? 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. ii. Babylon 93 He in former quests did use Cals, pit-fals, toyls, sprenges, and baits and glews. 1653 W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 187 It addeth vigour to the Springes, Nets, Dogs, &c. 1727 Swift Gulliver iv. ii, I sometimes made a shift to catch a rabbit, or bird, by springes made of Yahoos' hair. 1780 W. Coxe Russ. Disc. 77 The skins of guillinot [sic] and puffin, which they catch with springes. 1815 Sporting Mag. XLV. 189 Springes are, I believe, always set in standing wood. 1841 Marryat Poacher ii, Joey could set a springe. 1908 Sir H. Johnston Grenfell & the Congo ii. xxvii. 762 They also make use of springes of raphia rind. |
| β 1615 Chapman Odyss. xxii. 570 A Mauis, or a Pygeon,..caught with a Sprindge, or Net. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. v. 94 Nor Birds the Sprindges fear, not Stags the Toils. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock ii. 25 With hairy Sprindges we the Birds betray. |
2. fig. a. In allusions to the catching of woodcocks.
| α 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. iii. 115, I, Springes to catch Woodcocks. 1613 H. Parrot (title), Laquei Ridiculosi, or Springes for Woodcocks. 1668 Dryden Even. Love ii. i, So, there's one woodcock more in the springe. 1822 Shelley Chas. I, ii. 39 An idiot in lawn sleeves and a rochet setting springes to catch woodcocks. 1877 Tennyson Harold ii. ii, We hold our Saxon woodcock in the springe, But he begins to flutter. |
| β 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl D.'s Wks. 1873 III. 188 Heere's the sprindge I ha set to catch this woodcocke in. 1663 Dryden Wild Gallant iii, Isa. Alas, poor Woodcock, dost thou go a Birding! Thou hast e'en set a Sprindge to catch thy own Neck. |
b. In other contexts.
| 1612 Webster White Devil v. vi. 132 O I am caught with a springe. 1698 Farquhar Love & a Bottle 1, And have your ladies no springes to catch 'em in? 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. lvi. 309, I had not drawn my sprindges close about her. a 1797 H. Walpole Mem. Reign Geo. III (1845) I. xix. 276 The lawyers on either side were employed in discovering springes or loop-holes. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh ii. 1096 Shall I pardon you If thus you have caught me with a cruel springe? 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 222 He wanted to catch me in his springes of words. |
▪ II. springe, a. ? dial.
(sprɪndʒ)
Active, agile.
App. not recorded in actual dialect use.
| 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xxv, The lissom'st springest fellow i' the country. 1861 ― Silas M. xi, The Squire's pretty springe, considering his weight. |
▪ III. springe, v.1
(sprɪndʒ)
[f. springe n.]
1. trans. To catch in a springe or snare. Also refl. Freq. fig.
| ? a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Q. of Corinth iv. iii, We springe our selves, we sink in our own bogs. 1812 Combe Syntax, Picturesque xv, And what's still worse, he'll springe a hare. 1856 Mrs Browning Aur. Leigh viii. 928 An active poacher..tired of springeing game so long upon my acres. 1891 Blackw. Mag. CL. 243/1 Vast quantities of snipe..are netted or springed. |
2. intr. To set snares.
| 1895 Owen & Boulger The Country Feb. 54 The poor people springe for him [the snipe] in the moister parts. |
▪ IV. springe, v.2 Now dial.
[var. of sprenge v.]
intr. To sprinkle water.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuff Wks. (Grosart) V. 286 Our Norwich..was a poore fisher towne, and the sea spawled and springed vp to her common stayres. [Cf. Forby Voc. E. Anglia (a 1825) 321 Springe, to spread lightly; to sprinkle.] |