springful

springful

English

Etymology 1

spring +‎ -ful

Adjective

springful (comparative more springful, superlative most springful)

1. Pertaining to the season spring; springlike; vernal.
   • 1913, Samuel Butler, The fair haven, page 50:

     ...as when the warm southwest wind comes up breathing kindness from the sea, unheralded, suspected, when the earth is in her saddest frost, and on the instant all the lands are thawed and opened to the genial influences of a sweet springful whisper— so thawed his heart, and the seed which had lain dormant in its fertile soil sprang up, grew, ripened, and brought forth an abundant harvest.

   • 1941, J. A. Chadwick, Poems, by Arjava, page 125:

     The vivid disarray that woodlands feel As trim dead Winter steals away On the first warm springful day.

   • 1969, Nandagopāla Senagupta, A Book of Bengali Verse from 10th to 20th Century, page 96:

     Amidst a springful sunny bliss Nor you, nor I, none else, Only the pigeons shining.

Etymology 2

spring +‎ -ful

Noun

springful (plural springfuls or springsful)

1. As much as lasts or is produced in the spring.
   • 1944, Dylan Thomas, Poem in October:

     A springful of larks in a rolling Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling Blackbirds and the sun of October.

   • 1954, Tambimuttu, India love poems: selected and with an essay on woman in India, page 91:

     The palanquin was at once love's veena and a creeper shining with a springful of flowers;

   • 1970, Afro-Asian Writings - Issue 5, page 29:

     Amidst a world whistling Not with summery wind But radiating a springful Of deathly atoms.

2. As much as flows in a spring (of water).
   • 1977, Robert Peters, Gauguin's chair: selected poems, 1967-1974, page 29:

     The dipping of a spoon into a springful of water.