Upsprings

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. To rise suddenly or quickly from a resting position
2. To emerge or appear swiftly and energetically from a lower state or place
3. To develop or originate rapidly from a source or cause

Etymology: "Upsprings" is the third-person singular present of "upspring," and also a plural noun form of it. The verb is a straightforward compound: "up" joined to "spring," so its literal sense is simply "spring up." Its ancestor, Old English "uppspringan" and "ūpspringan," kept that plain meaning of leaping or rising upward, and the same root surfaces in neighboring Germanic languages, such as Old Saxon "upspring," which meant a well or source of water, the place where something rises out of the ground. That well-source sense is the most striking part of the history. The Old English noun "upspring" carried the meanings "origin," "birth," and "rising up," so the idea of something welling forth from a hidden source was present from the start. The modern verb keeps the image of a sudden rise, while the noun form preserves that older sense of emergence and beginnings.

Synonyms: arises, emerges, springs up

Antonyms: subsides, descends