mainspring

English

Etymology

From main +‎ spring. For figurative sense, compare spring (“source, origin”).

Noun

mainspring (plural mainsprings)

1. (horology) The principal spring of a clockwork mechanism, which drives it by uncoiling.
   • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away.

2. (figuratively) The most important reason for, or element of, something.

   My daughter is the mainspring of my life.

   • 2014 November 2, Paul Mason, “What Shakespeare taught me about Marxism”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     But in the England of Shakespeare’s history plays, the mainspring of the system has broken down.

Translations

the principal spring of a clockwork mechanism

• Armenian: զսպանակ (hy) (zspanak)
• Catalan: ressort motor m
• Chinese: 發條／发条 (zh) (fātiáo)
• Egyptian Arabic: زمبلك m (zambálek)
• Estonian: vedru (et)
• Finnish: vieteri (fi)
• French: ressort moteur m
• German: Antriebsfeder f, Triebfeder (de) f, Hauptfeder f
• Ido: granda resorto
• Japanese: ぜんまいばね
• Kannada: ಪ್ರಧಾನ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆ (kn) (pradhāna prēraṇe)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: zenbelka serekî

• Manx: ard-lheimaghan m
• Polish: sprężyna napędowa
• Spanish: resorte motor m
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ลาน (th) (laan)
• Turkish: zemberek (tr) m
• Urdu: بڑی کمانی
• Vietnamese: dây cót chính