springboardn.
/ˈsprɪŋbɔːd/, U.S. /ˈsprɪŋˌbɔrd/ 1. A flexible board or plate used as a component in a machine, device, etc., typically as a means of regulating motion or varying the amount of tension applied to something.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > parts regulating movement or speed
fly1599
screw1617
fence1678
springboard1772
check-chain1805
speeder1847
1772 W. Bailey Advancem. Arts, Manuf., & Commerce I. i. ii. 7 A flat iron Brace; its under end is rivetted to a thin iron plate at the back side of the spring-board.
1873 U.S. Patent 141,866 1/1 My invention consists, first, in the combination of a friction-roller with the lower end of the yielding spring-board, which holds the grain down to the action of the elevating rakes.
1953 H. G. Ingraham in J. N. Stephenson Pulp & Paper Manuf. (Joint Textbk. Committee Paper Industry) III. 72 Eccentric motion is transmitted to the vat assembly through the eccentric strap..and the spring board.
2001 U.S. Patent 6,230,387 B1 1 Each of the spring boards includes a cam surface latch adapted for mating with a corresponding cam surface recess.
2.
a. A small platform, typically fixed along one edge and supported on the opposite side by springs, used by a gymnast, acrobat, etc., to gain the height needed to mount a piece of apparatus or to assist in performing aerial moves.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > leaping, springing, or jumping > [noun] > aids to leaping or jumping
risea1616
leap-staffc1626
springboard?1780
jumping-board1878
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > gymnastics > [noun] > equipment
plummet?1537
springboard?1780
horse1785
trampoline1798
club1815
gallows1817
Indian club1825
rope1825
horizontal bar1827
trapeze1830
vaulting bar1839
parallel bars1850
wooden horse1854
trapezium1856
giant stride1863
ring1869
vaulting horse1875
mast1880
fly-pole1884
pommel1887
Roman ring1894
mat1903
wall bar1903
pommel horse1908
buck1932
pommel vault1932
landing mat1941
rebounder1980
?1780 At Theatr. Shew-shop, or Butcher's Shop (single sheet) They likewise perform the Italian Table Tricks, without spring-boards or tramplings.
1841 H. D. Thoreau Jrnl. 23 Jan. (1981) I. 229 Like the spring board on which tumblers perform, and develope their elasticity.
1864 All Year Round 6 Aug. 616/1 Old Hill insisted on it that they [sc. harlequin] leaped from spring-boards and were caught on feather-beds.
1900 Daily News 24 Sept. 6/3 With the aid of a spring-board he vaults with ease over nine men placed in a row.
1957 D. Newton Clowns 150 They must have used springboards, of course, but even so the records of their feats are on the Olympic Games level.
2013 Warwick (Queensland) Daily News (Nexis) 9 July 18 Gymnasts sprint towards the vault table, hit the springboard at speed, handspring over the table and try to land well.
b. figurative and in figurative contexts. Something or someone resembling a gymnast's springboard, esp. in assisting a person to reach or attain a particular position, goal, etc.
ΚΠ
1795 Sun (London) 28 Apr. 3/2 They made the excellence of their Government the great spring-board from which were to arise all those national advantages.
1841 Cleave's Penny Gaz. (London) 22 May 2/4 Every clamorous designing trickster that would fain make the deluded many the spring-board from which to vault into power and distinction.
1885 E. Lynn Linton Autobiogr. Christopher Kirkland III. 223 The spring-board whence she took her next leap into the arena of insolence.
1948 R. Godden Candle for St. Jude ii. 38 ‘They use me,’ said Madame. ‘What am I but a springboard, yes, a springboard, for their careers.’
1975 C. S. Olton Artisans for Independence p. ix A study limited to..the city's lower social echelons would become a springboard for later and larger generalizations about the common man in urban America.
2006 S. Broughton et al. Rough Guide World Music: Afr. & Middle East (ed. 3) I. i. 69 Many other artists have used this festival as a springboard to success.
3. A strong, flexible board projecting over water, from which a person may jump or dive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > water sports except racing > swimming > [noun] > swimming pool > diving board
springboard1838
diving-board1893
platform1938
1838 Times 21 June 7/3 He arrived at the bend of the river below the spring-boards.
1866 Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 659 A long swimming bath..with spring board to jump off.
1921 R. Hughes Beauty iv. x. 256 From the springboard and from various heights she made a dozen kinds of dive.
1973 Star-News (Pasadena, Calif.) 21 Feb. a1/2 Miss Kincade's dives..are off three foot and nine foot springboards.
2013 Windsor (Ohio) Star (Nexis) 6 Aug. a3 A small group of preteen boys flipped and cannonballed into the deep end from a long springboard.
4. U.S. A type of light wagon. In later use in springboard wagon in the same sense. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > [noun] > light
Germantown1766
dearborn1820
cart1823
wagon1837
springboard1857
runabout1863
buck-wagon1864
beach-wagon1869
buckboard1874
tonga1874
buck-cart1884
jutka1886
runabout wagon1886
1857 J. T. Trowbridge Neighbor Jackwood vi. 52 I wonder who it was invented buck-boards,—spring-boards, they call 'em to Sawney Hook. I never could like 'em. Jest a long teeterin' board, from the fore ex to the hind ex, with nothin' but a seat in the middle.
1883 R. L. Stevenson Silverado Squatters 174 A couple in a waggon, or a dusty farmer on a spring-board, toiling over ‘the grade’ to..Calistoga.
1958 F. Stanley No Tears for Black Jack Ketchem i. 1 Wagons rolled into Clayton. From far and near they came... Spring-board, buck-board, chuck-wagon, Studebaker wagon, surrey, saddle-back, afoot.
2007 R. Farnbach & L. Barnett Fallbrook 72 He..would sometimes take the family springboard wagon to the top of the hill, without any horses, and coast down with just a rope tied to the axles to steer it.
5. North American and Australian. A board or plank, inserted at one end into a notch in a tree, on which a person felling wood stands when working above the ground. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > [noun] > lumbering equipment > board to stand on
springboard1883
jigger-board1944
jigger1961
1883 E. Ingersoll in Harper's Mag. Jan. 200/2 These [holes] were intended for the insertion of their iron-shod ‘spring boards’.
1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Sept. 20/1 Nerves of steel are needed day by day By those who on the springboard stand, while forest monarchs sway.
1975 H. White Raincoast Chron., First Five (1976) 102/2 Metal-tipped springboards set in notches were used by the early fallers to climb above the butt-swell [of a tree].
2007 C. A. Slater Key Penins. iii. 44 (caption) William Tillman and his father, James, stand on springboards with a crosscut saw, ready to cut a Douglas fir.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1772