I. ˈspī(ə)r, -īə noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English spir, spire, from Old English spīr; akin to Middle Dutch spier shoot, blade of grass, Old Norse spīra stalk, Latin spina thorn, spine — more at spine
1. : a slender tapering blade or stalk (as of grass or grain)
2.
a. obsolete : a germinating plant : sprout
b. dialect Britain : sapling
3. : the top or end of something and especially of something held to taper to a point : the sharp tip : pinnacle
the spire of a tree
a spire of flame
4. : a conical heap or pile : a mass of pyramidal form
spires of rock
5.
a. : a steeply tapering roof or analogous pyramidal construction surmounting a tower or towerlike structure
b. : steeple
II. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English spiren, from spir, spire, n.
1. : to send forth or develop shoots : germinate , sprout
seeds spire under suitable conditions
2. of a plant : to run to stalk or stem : become spindly
3. : to shoot up into a spire : run up taperingly like a spire : mount or soar aloft
a towering crag … spired up — Thomas Gray
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin spira coil, twist, from Greek speira; akin to Greek sparton rope, esparto, Lithuanian spriñgti to choke on something
1. : spiral : a sinuous winding (as a serpent) : coil , curl , twist , whorl
2. : a series of curls or coils
3. : the upper part of a spiral shell including the whole series of whorls except the last or body whorl
4. : spiralium
IV. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to rise, fall, or otherwise move in or as if in a spiral : mount or soar spirally
up, up spires the song — Amy Lowell