Word.ws English Dictionary

springald

/ˈspɹɪŋəld/

springald noun: a young man, a stripling, a youth.

springald: a young man, a stripling, a youth
Image: Mario Sánchez Prada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

springald (plural springalds)

  1. (archaic) A young man, a stripling, a youth.
    • There came two Springals of full tender yeares, / Farre thence from forrein land where they did dwell […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • Sure the diuell, God blesse us, is in this Springald, why George, dist ever see such a fire-drake, I am afraid my boie's miscaried, if he be, though hee were Maister Mery-thoughts sonne a thousand times, if there bee any Law in England I'le make some of them smart for't.1607 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], The Knight of the Burning Pestle, London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Walter Burre, […], published 1613, →OCLC, Act II, signatures E, recto – E2, verso

Noun (2)

springald (plural springalds)

  1. (historical) An ancient military engine for launching stones and arrows by means of a spring.
    • The springald is a somewhat more problematic weapon as it is completely unclear whether it was the same weapon as the Roman ballista which some historians believe never disappeared from the battlefield and remained in use throughout […]2007, Kelly DeVries, Robert Douglas Smith, Medieval Weapons: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 138
    • Although generally more powerful than the great crossbow, the springald was not as versatile, since it could not be moved quickly during a siege, nor would it operate properly in wet conditions at sea.2010, Matt Landrus, Leonardo da Vinci’s Giant Crossbow, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 54

Forms of springald

pluralspringalds
alternative formspringal
alternative formspringall
alternative formspringold
alternative formespringal

Origin of springald

Apparently from spring, with an uncertain final element.

From Old French espringale; of Germanic origin, akin to English spring.

Questions about springald

What does springald mean?
Springald means a young man, a stripling, a youth.
What part of speech is springald?
Springald is a noun.
How do you pronounce springald?
Springald is pronounced /ˈspɹɪŋəld/.
What is the plural of springald?
The plural of springald is springalds.

Words near springald in the dictionary

  1. spring-time
  2. spring-times
  3. spring-water
  4. spring-waters
  5. springal
  6. springald
  7. springalds
  8. springall
  9. springalls
  10. springals
  11. springback

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: springald (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-springald.wav.

Cite this entry: “springald.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/springald. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.