I. ˈspi(ə)r, -iə noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English spere, from Old English; akin to Old High German sper spear, Old Norse spjör spears, Latin sparus hunting spear, Greek sparos gilthead
1. : a thrusting or throwing weapon with a long shaft and sharp head or blade used in war or hunting
2. : something resembling a spear: as
a. : a transverse spike or pole in a cheval-de-frise
b. : a sharp-pointed instrument with barbs used in spearing fish
c. : the tip end of a fishhook with barb and point
d. : lance 2c
e. : a body part (as a stylet or barb) that resembles a spear
3. : spearman ; especially : a soldier armed with a spear
4. : a light ray : beam
the spears of an aurora were stabbing upward to the zenith — S.H.Adams
5. : a tool used in recovering equipment lost in a drilled oil well
•
- under the spear
II. adjective
Etymology: Middle English spere, from spere, n.
1. : of, relating to, or resembling a spear
2. : of or relating to the father : male
the spear side of the family
— compare distaff
III. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: spear (I)
transitive verb
1. : to pierce or strike with or as if with a spear
learning how to spear salmon
spearing a cake … she put it on her plate — Clarissa F. Cushman
2. : to impale (cut stalks or plants) on a lath in harvesting tobacco
3. : to clean out (a hole) with a reamer
4. : to catch (as a baseball) with a sudden thrust of the arm
intransitive verb
1. : to thrust with or as if with a spear
hundreds of sharks spearing at the whale — H.A.Chippendale
2. : to make a way into or through something in the manner of a spear
the headlight is a white shaft spearing into a misty night — R.M.Neal
the great cathedral spears into the sky — Amy Lowell
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration (influenced by spear ) (I) of spire (I)
1. obsolete : steeple
2.
a. : a usually young blade, shoot, or sprout (as of grass)
b.
(1) : a stalk of reed grass
(2) dialect England : reeds ; especially : reeds used for thatching
V. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to thrust upward in a shoot, blade, or spear-shaped leaf
how beautiful are oats when the first wavering ranks of green come spearing bravely in the light — D.C.Peattie
VI. noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration of spire (III)
Britain : a rod to which the bucket of a mine pump is attached