headsprings

Noun

headspring (plural headsprings)

1. A fountainhead; a source.
   • Now you can follow the current downstream from the headspring to the Silver River's confluence with the Ocklawaha, rather than beating your way upstream from the Ocklawaha all the way to the headspring.2016, Johnny Molloy, Canoeing & Kayaking Florida, →ISBN
2. (figuratively) A basis or foundation.
   • Much less can we afford to follow them into the fantastic combination in which they have been sometimes represented as constituting a sort of barbarian headspring to the liberty of civilized men ; to whom politic society is thought to be a means of preserving, in part only, a freedom enjoyed by...1853, Henry Whiting Warner, The Liberties of America, page 236
3. A move in which the gymnast places both hands on the mat with the top of the head about 6 inches in front, pushes off with the hands while flipping the legs overhead, and lands on the feet.
   • The technique in continuous headsprings is rather different from that employed in performing a single headspring in that the head and hands are closer together, thus reducing resistance to forward rotation and enabling fast acceleration to take place.1965, Walter G. Dunn, Gymnastics for Schools: Vaulting & Agilities, page 112
4. A spring that sits at the top of a mechanism, pushing the internal parts inward.
   • Remove the four screws from bottom of tube, then headspring and bottom assembly can be removed through bottom of tube.1949, Chain Store Age - Volume 25, Issues 1-6, page 28

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