to spring to life
4
4.0
- phrasal verb
- /sprɪŋ tə laɪf/
:
cobrar vida
- First, we need to power on the system, watch it spring to life and wipe the tears from our eyes.
- suddenly sprang to life
- sprang to life again
- engine sprang to life
And then the the rest will just spring to life.
- And then the the rest will just spring to life.
- All of a sudden Telegraph wires that were dormant sprung to life and would transmit signals all by themselves.
- When you fill this thing up with hot liquids, all of a sudden it springs to life like the desert at night.
Examples
-
When you fill this thing up with hot liquids, all of a sudden it springs to life like the desert at night.
-
And yet, when it's up and running, the junk heap springs to life.
Academic text (2011) -
The four other characters spring to life.
Fiction book (1997) -
That's it, Phil, you spring to life now.
-
This man, until yesterday was living a shell of an existence, has sprung to life.
-
Hidden talents have sprung to life.
Fiction book (1990) -
The Tactical Countermeasures Computer springs to life.
Fiction book (1997) -
As the irrigation system sprang to life, Melvin quickly jumped aside to avoid the spray.
Blog text (23) -
Axeirod eases up the throttle and the four GE-F103 turbofan engines spring to life.
Fiction book (1997) -
With a few voice commands, the lights and TV spring to life, creating a cozy atmosphere.
Synonyms
64
3.7
Begin to seem full of life, like a place with people around
56
3.7
Become lively and full of activity or interest
8
3.8
To get active and more real after a time with little activity
Antonyms
How Quickly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'spring' (to appear or start suddenly) with 'life' (liveliness), so its meaning 'suddenly become active or start working' is directly inferable from the constituents. This compositional metaphor is common cross-linguistically (e.g. 'come to life'), so a B1 learner who knows the words would very likely understand it.
Etymology
The phrase spring to life comes from the image of a toy or machine with a spring that suddenly jumps and seems to have life. So it means 'to suddenly become active or start working'.