sprint
verbEtymology Alteration of earlier sprent (“to leap; bound; dart”), from Northern Middle English sprenten, from Old Norse *sprenta (for later spretta), from Proto-Germanic *sprantijaną, causative of Proto-Germanic *sprintaną (“to jump up; bounce”), from Proto-Indo-European *sprend-, *sprendʰ- (“to flinch; jump”), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to twitch; fidget; flinch; jump; be quick”). Cognate with Middle High German sprenzen (“to sprinkle; splash”), Swedish spritta (“to startle”), Icelandic spretta (“to spring forth; emerge; arise; develop”).
1
Ambitransitive To run, cycle, etc. at top speed for a short period.
- "So I broke away early this mornin', gave my guard a kick in the tummy that laid him out, and sprinted for the camp.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- canoe sprint, hollow sprint, kayak sprint, outsprint, sprintable, sprint car, sprinter, sprint finish, sprintless, wind sprint