Talk:sprung

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Latest comment: 5 years ago by GRobLewis in topic Another sense of "sprung"
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Tea Room discussion[edit]

See Special:PermanentLink/24549076#sprung. DCDuring TALK 22:58, 3 September 2010 (UTC)Reply

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Tea room.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.


Long ago, when I first heard this term, in the song “Baby Got Back”, I assumed it meant something rather *cough* physiological. More recently, I've heard it in various contexts where that doesn't make sense — its current sense definitely matches our def (“utterly infatuated”) — but I'm wondering if it did use to have that other sense (in which case the current sense is presumably a generalization or amelioration or something), or if I just had a dirty mind.

Also, I've added some cites, rewritten the def, added usage notes, etc., based on usages I've encountered and usages I found via Google, but if someone is more familiar with the term than I am, please have at it!

RuakhTALK 01:18, 1 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Another sense of "sprung"[edit]

If a mechanical spring or spring-like object has become distorted or excessively deformed due to over-excursion such that it no longer functions as designed, it can be said to be "sprung".

Example: On raising the hood of the car to investigate why the coolant was leaking out, I discovered that the spring clamp holding the radiator hose on was sprung, allowing the hose to fall off. GRobLewis (talk) 16:15, 3 March 2019 (UTC)Reply