Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to produce (e.g. a police badge), to create, to make appear.

[1606		J. Day Ile of Guls V iii: Why then we have once spring’d a couple of woodcocks].
1614		Jonson Bartholomew Fair (1811) V:6: I may, perhaps, spring a wife for you anon .
1896		H. Blossom Checkers 44: I meets a young guy [...] and he springs a system to beat roulette.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 35: Mr. Smithers sprung a new gag to pacify the boss.
1913		H.A. Franck Zone Policeman 88 170: I was about to ‘spring my badge’ for the first time.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 170: Always some skunk to spring things like that! Knocking and sneering.
1944		C. Himes ‘Let Me at the Enemy’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 41: This icky, George Brown, sprung this jive.
1953		J. Thompson Criminal (1993) 11: Then spring some deal that had to be settled right away.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins : .

2. (orig. UK Und.) of both persons and objects, to discover, to come upon [late 19C+ use is Aus.].

1812		implied in spring a plant under plant n.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 33/1: Where the — did you ‘namase’ to at the break of the boat? We looked every where for you and couldn’t ‘spring’ you. [Ibid.] 139/2: There would be a ‘frisking-do’ on the ‘drum’ [...] and in that event our ‘swag’ would be ‘sprung’.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxix 4/5: spring: To be sprung, one is caught in the act of doing something highly irregular.
1974		Adamson & Hanford Zimmer’s Essay 78: The fuckwitted screw ramped Carol and sprang the note.
1979		Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 84: Shit [...] must’ve been sprung nicking off.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 10: Being a syrup of fig was not his go. It was always on the cards that he could end up with a bit of swish if he got sprung being a gig.
1994		Penguin Bk of Aus. Jokes 332: He sprang the sailor bonking the girl.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 175/1: spring v. 2 to discover, to arrest, to catch someone committing a crime .
2002		R.G. Barrett Mystery Bay Blues 54: Fuck it, Les cursed himself, I’ve been sprung.
2011		D. Telegraph (Sydney) 21 Dec. 🌐 He was sprung [...] visiting Disneyland on a false passport.
2017		T. Spicer Good Girl Stripped Bare 14: A car careens around the corner. ‘Shit, I’m sprung,’ he says, scampering away.

3. to make happen.

1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry II i: Let’s start on some spree; no doubt we shall spring a lark somewhere.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 113: No harness men on that beat when you spring action.

4. to take possession of .

1821

D. Haggart Autobiog. 121: It felt hard, and without difficulty I sprung a skin, which I emptied into my cloy.

5. to prepare a victim for exploitation.

1828

‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West I 150: Foppery being at length properly ‘sprung,’ the wink passed round.

6. to offer a higher price.

1900		Marvel XIV:344 June 11: Can [...] what’s ’e’s name – spring an extra tanner per ’our.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 197: He started me at thirty, and run gradually hisself up till he sprung fifty guineas.
1927		E. Wallace Squeaker (1950) 7: There’s a gentleman in Maida Vale who’s offered me three thousand and would spring another.
1935		G. Ingram Cockney Cavalcade 121: Can’t you spring another fifty?

7. (also spring for) to pay over a sum of money, to buy a certain amount; to produce; to pay for, to treat.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 448/1: Some even sell at ‘a halfpenny apiece,’ [...] when ‘cracked-up,’ and unable to ‘spring’ a better stock. [Ibid.] II 28/2: If the seller finds he can get him to ‘spring’ [...] he says, ‘I shuppose I musht take your money even if I loosh by it’.
1880		E.J. Milliken ‘Cad’s Calendar’ in Punch Almanack n.p.: Wonder if old snip would spring another? [i.e. coat] / Boots, too, rayther seedy; beastly bother!
c.1895		F. Norris Vandover and the Brute (1914) 228: As soon as he’d squeal I’d spring cold cash on him.
1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 32: He had [...] sprung a tanner.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 250: Feathers [...] said reproachfully to the Aberdeen engineer [...] whose turn it was to ‘spring’: ‘Blime, cobber, er yer givin’ ther barmaid er perpetual ’oliday ’r what?’.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 121: He’ll [...] spring for a machine so as not to miss anything.
1910		Truth (Perth) 1 Oct. 4/7: His ‘skyrockets’ then are ‘stiff’ / And he hasn’t got a ‘spiff’ / And he wants to ask you if / You can ‘spring.’ .
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 205: I don’t say that I can’t afford to pay more than a shilling a week. I’d spring two or three if I knew of a real good school.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 17 Jan. 7/7: He agreed to spring her a drink at an adjoining pub.
1926		‘Sapper’ Final Count 814: For a cert like this ’e might spring for a quid, too.
1940		H. Drake-Brockman Hot Gold I iii: Couldn’t you spring a few bob for the missus, Jack?
1958		E. Gilbert Vice Trap 7: Druckere had sprung already. The half-dozen guys [...] had Lucky bottles in front of them.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 80: He’ll ‘spring for’ it [i.e. $100] tomorrow night.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 218: I’ll spring for another five.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 84: The only other thing that I can think of that’d make Ticker spring for lunch is the SJC thing.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 167: Perhaps I’ll even spring for a goat.
2002		J. Ridley Conversation with the Mann 38: It had gotten around that I’d sprung for movie tickets and candy.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] I’d sprung for ity [i.e. a hotel]on my credit card and told her to lay as low as she could.
2019		C. Hammer Silver [ebook] ‘You can spring for dinner some time’.

8. to afford.

1937–84

Partridge DSUE (1984) 1134/1: late C.19–20.

9. (US Und.) to open (a lock).

1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 258: He sprung the paddy with a screw. He opened the lock with a key.
1974		Adamson & Hanford Zimmer’s Essay 38: If you spring a car and find a set of ignition leads and some coat-hanger wire in the glove box, don’t think you have worked somebody in exactly your line.

10. (orig. US, also spring out) to escape from prison.

1903		H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 38: To ‘spring,’ is to escape the clutches of the law. [Ibid.] 188: Well, if you can get on Keeper Riley’s gallery I think you can spring (escape).
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 180: Spring Out.–To escape from gaol, usually when no force is needed.
1936		(ref. to 1920s) L. Duncan Over the Wall 126: I might be able to spring myself legitimately if I place the dough in the right party’s hands.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 325: Spring, [...] 2. To escape from prison.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 254: spring (v) 1. Escape from prison.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 175/1: spring v. 1 to escape .

11. to get a person out of prison, to have someone released, to release.

1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 62: It cost his push a thousand plunks to spring him from the coppers.
1912		A. Berkman Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (1926) 198: A real good gun’s always got his fall money planted, – I mean some ready coin in case of trouble, and a smart lawyer will spring you most every time.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 405: Flight. Escape – ditch out, blow, bolt, give police the raspberry, scoot, spring a man.
1926		J. Tully Jarnegan (1928) 40: He was ‘sprung’ from the Ohio Penitentiary in two years and six months.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 62: Spring Polack Annie . . . oh, not this minute—but give our word that she will walk through the doors in a day or two.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 20: By this time Bow and Emil Burbacher were sprung from The School.
1950		S.J. Baker in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/4: Among American borrowings recorded in Detective Doyle's list are: [...] ‘stiff,’ a corpse; ‘spring,’ to bail out; ‘snow,’ cocaine; ‘sticks,’ country districts.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 104: Then my lawyer got me sprung on a writ.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 106: All I seen lately’s a mob of louse screws lookin’ at me through da bars. I’m celebratin’ bein’ sprung.
1974		Time 15 Apr. 92: Discharged from prison, Lou Jean Poplin—sometime beautician, full-time nudzh—must first spring her husband from the minimum-security prison.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 197: spring: to arrange someone’s release or escape from prison.
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 160: I thought they closed places like this down after they sprung Oliver Twist.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 252: Less than three years after getting sprung from the joint.
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 175: He said it was too late to spring him that day.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 262: Some no-name do what I do, maybe he gets twelve to life, gets sprung in eight and change.
2005		L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 106: Others went down to the courthouse to spring Mike Cain out of jail after his traffic infraction, all carrying guns.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] He was a Queenslander who had helped spring Neil McEwan from Boggo Road Jail.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] Defoe’s article [...] had all the stuff about Swift being a rock spider, but nothing [...] of him getting sprung from jail by powerful people.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 169: ‘I wouldn’t mind putting my ass on the line to spring Diego’.

12. as sense 10 in a non-prison context.

1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 34: He shoed me [...] how to open the front parlour window: he called it ‘springing’ the window and that is a good name, because, you know, you do spring it.
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 252: [of a nun] He thought of Moira [...] He wondered if Des had sprung her for Mary Margaret’s homecoming.
1983		A-Team Storybook 33: You’re both here to try and spring that nosey reporter I’ve got stashed away – right?
1999		Indep. Rev. 27 July 9: The lovely dumb blond virgin who has been sprung by Pseudolus from the House of Marcus Lycus.

13. to alter.

1940

S. Longstreet Decade 317: He’s had his pan sprung by a sawbones and his finger maps etched out in acid – but it’s no dice. The Feds are on his tail.

14. (US prison) to leave prison after completing one’s sentence.

1926		Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 14/1: Spring – To be released from arrest.
1936		Mencken Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 581: In virtually all American prisons [...] To be released is to spring or to hit the bricks.
1970		L. Sanders Anderson Tapes 32: ANDERSON: When’s he springing? [...] BILLY: Ed will be out on Tuesday.

15. (Aus. Und.) to catch someone engaged in an illicit activity.

1974		D. Ireland Burn 99: Now I’ve got you. Your own son sprung you.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Spring. 2. To catch someone engaged in an illicit activity.
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 28: If anyone springs us we’ll have a blue on our hands.