n. & v.
--n.
1. a thrusting or throwing weapon with a pointed usu. steel tip and a long shaft.
2 a similar barbed instrument used for catching fish etc.
3 archaic a spearman.
4 a pointed stem of asparagus etc.
--v.tr. pierce or strike with or as if with a spear (speared an olive).
Phrases and idioms:
spear gun a gun used to propel a spear in underwater fishing. spear side the male side of a family.
Etymology: OE spere