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mainspring. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
mainspring, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
mainspring in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
mainspring you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From main + spring. For figurative sense, compare spring (“source, origin”).
Noun
mainspring (plural mainsprings)
- (horology) The principal spring of a clockwork mechanism, which drives it by uncoiling.
1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away.
- (figuratively) The most important reason for, or element of, something.
My daughter is the mainspring of my life.
2014 November 2, Paul Mason, “What Shakespeare taught me about Marxism”, in The Guardian:But in the England of Shakespeare’s history plays, the mainspring of the system has broken down.
Translations
the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism