"During these periods [between the full and new moon] the flood tides rise higher and the ebb tides..."

“During these periods [between the full and new moon] the flood tides rise higher and the ebb tides fall lower than at any other time. These are called “spring tides” from the Saxon “sprungen.” The word refers not to a season, but to the brimming fullness of the water causing it to “spring”… In its quarter phrases the moon exerts its attraction at right angles to the pull of the sun so the two forces interfere with each other and the tidal movements are slack. Then the water neither rises as high nor falls as low as on the spring tides. These sluggish tides are called the “neaps” — a word that goes back to the old Scandinavian roots meaning “barely touching” or “hardly enough.””

- “The Marginal World,” The Edge of the Sea, Rachel Carson.