spring-the verbal stem used in a few specific names, as spring-beetle(seequot.); spring-hare, the jumping hare of South Africa; spring-jack, -lobster(seequots.).1835J. Duncan Beetles (Nat. Lib.) 159 This operation is attended with a sharp snapping noise, which has caused these insects to be termed click-beetles, in addition to the names of skipjacks and *spring-beetles, by which they are likewise known in England.1900Daily Express 27 June 7/1 We could hear them probing a suspicious-looking *spring hare's burrow.1848Proc.Berw.Nat. Club II. 327 A mechanism..which..causes them to rise with a jerk, accompanied with a snapping noise, whence they have been named ‘clicks’ or ‘*spring-jacks’.1879E. P. Wright Anim. Life 533 Here are to be placed the *Spring Lobsters (Palinuridæ), the Cray-fish (Astacidæ).