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springe

[sprinj]
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noun
  1. a snare for catching small game.
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verb (used with object), springed, spring·ing.
  1. to catch in a springe.
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verb (used without object), springed, spring·ing.
  1. to set a springe or springes.
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Origin of springe

1200–50; Middle English, variant of sprenge a snare, literally, something that is made to spring, derivative of sprengen to make spring, Old English sprengan, causative of springan to spring
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for springe

Historical Examples

  • And briefly he sketched for her the springe he was setting with the help of Mr. Newlington.

    Mistress Wilding

    Rafael Sabatini

  • Be caught like a bird in a springe; everything intended to be hidden from me!

  • Thus had Amilcare been sold by his own purchase, and thus Grifone griped in his own springe.

    Little Novels of Italy

    Maurice Henry Hewlett

  • The German Emperor was paying his annual visit to the moors at Springe.

  • You are now fairly trapped at last—caught like the woodcock in your own springe.

    Rookwood

    William Harrison Ainsworth

British Dictionary definitions for springe

springe

noun
  1. a snare set to catch small wild animals or birds and consisting of a loop attached to a bent twig or branch under tension
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verb
  1. (intr) to set such a snare
  2. (tr) to catch (small wild animals or birds) with such a snare
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Word Origin

C13: related to Old English springan to spring
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