handspring

[ hand-spring ]

/ ˈhændˌsprɪŋ /

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noun

an acrobatic feat in which one starts from a standing position and wheels the body forward or backward in a complete circle, landing first on the hands and then on the feet, without contact by the rest of the body.

verb (used without object), hand·sprang, hand·sprung, hand·springing.

to perform a handspring.

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Origin of handspring

First recorded in 1870–75; hand + spring

Words nearby handspring

handsome, handsome is as handsome does, handsomely, hands-on, handspike, handspring, handstand, handstitch, handstroke, hands up, handsy

How to use handspring in a sentence

Her eponymous front handspring double twist was the single best vault in the final.
Gymnasts Say They Need Apparatus Warmups Back. That Should Be Enough.|Dvora Meyers|August 2, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
Soviet legend Natalia Yurchenko, who innovated the roundoff-back handspring entry vault, was injured in the vault final and had to withdraw from the remaining three finals.
Why It’s Not Surprising That Simone Biles Cheered For Angelina Melnikova|Dvora Meyers|July 30, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
It requires explosive power pushing off the vault—backward, no less, after a roundoff and back handspring—to flip twice, with the legs in a pike position, before -landing.
Simone Biles Is Already the Best Gymnast Ever. She'll Be Even Better for Tokyo|Alice Park|June 24, 2021|Time
Yurchenko debuted the vault in an international competition in 1982, and this entry with a round-off back handspring has carried her name since.
Yurchenko and beyond: The origins of Simone Biles’s revolutionary vault|Emily Giambalvo|June 4, 2021|Washington Post

Other vaults require a gymnast to perform a front handspring onto the table.
Yurchenko and beyond: The origins of Simone Biles’s revolutionary vault|Emily Giambalvo|June 4, 2021|Washington Post
The next moment he executed a handspring into the midst of the natives, almost upsetting one of them.
The Argus Pheasant|John Charles Beecham
The tub went down, and Charlie turned a handspring in the hot suds and came up covered with foam and wet clothes.
Motor Matt's Mystery|Stanley R. Matthews
Well have no end of good times, said Bob, trying to turn a handspring on the grass, but tumbling down in the effort.
The Motor Boys Overland|Clarence Young
Monsieur Call bowed to everyone, including little Artaban, who acknowledged his courtesy by executing a handspring.
San-Cravate; or, The Messengers; Little Streams|Charles Paul de Kock
Had he not been on his skates he would have attempted a handspring in the exuberance of his spirits.
The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island|Edward Stratemeyer

British Dictionary definitions for handspring

handspring

/ (ˈhændˌsprɪŋ) /

noun

a gymnastic feat in which a person starts from a standing position and leaps forwards or backwards into a handstand and then onto his feet

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012