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Spear

//spɪɹ// adj, name, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective

1
Male. not-comparable
"a spear counterpart"
2
Pertaining to male family members. not-comparable
"the spear side of the family"

Proper Noun

1
An English surname.

Noun

1
A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion.
"It's not like you killed someone It's not like you drove a spiteful spear into his side Talk to Jesus Christ as if he knows the reasons why He did it all for you"
2
The sprout of a plant, stalk
3
a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon wordnet
4
A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman. historical
"Now toil'd the Bruce, the battle done , To use his conquest boldly won; And gave command for horse and spear To press the Southron's scatter'd rear"
5
A church spire. obsolete

Show 8 more definitions

6
an implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching fish wordnet
7
A lance with barbed prongs, used by fishermen to retrieve fish.
8
An illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player.
9
In professional wrestling, a running tackle in which the wrestler's shoulder is driven into the opponent's midsection.
10
A shoot, as of grass; a spire.
11
The feather of a horse.
12
The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod.
13
A long, thin strip from a vegetable.
"asparagus and broccoli spears"

Verb

1
To pierce with a spear. transitive
"By the 1970s, herders were spearing rhinos and poisoning lions to protest the loss of their land to conservation, then represented by the independent Kenyan government."
2
pierce with a spear wordnet
3
To penetrate or strike with, or as if with, any long narrow object; to make a thrusting motion that catches an object on the tip of a long device. broadly, transitive
"Former teammate Derek Sanderson recalls that Maki hit Ted from behind as Green was clearing the puck from the Boston zone. Green turned to knock Maki down, but Maki speared him as he rose from the ice."
4
thrust up like a spear wordnet
5
To tackle an opponent by ramming into them with one's helmet.

Show 2 more definitions

6
To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do. intransitive
"you may prepare them for spearing by laying the Keys in Earth or Sand"
7
To ignore as a social snub. especially, obsolete, transitive
"The Monthly Magazine, Or, British Register for 1798 included an explanation by a reader of how the cut was carried out in his college days in a lengthy letter to the editor, signed by the pseudonym "Ansonius." In his rambling letter, Ansonius noted that when he was at college, " … if a man passed an old acquaintance wittingly, without recognizing him, he was said— ‘To cut him.’" Ansonius then went on to explain the performance of the cut and noted that for a time the term "to spear" was used instead of to cut. However, that term did not remain long in use, and this act was generally known as "the cut" ever after."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English spere, sperre, spear, from Old English spere, from Proto-West Germanic *speru, from Proto-Germanic *speru, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH-. Cognates See also West Frisian spear, Dutch speer, German Speer, Old Norse spjǫr, *sparrô, Middle Dutch sparre (“rafter”), Old Norse sparri (“spar, rafter”), sperra (“rafter, beam”); also Latin sparus (“short spear”), Albanian ferrë (“thorn, thornbush”).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

Alteration of spire, from Middle English spyre, spier, spir, from Old English spīr (“stalk of a plant, shoot, blade”). More at spire.

Etymology 5

From Middle English spere (“spear”), a nickname for a tall thin person or for someone who used a spear, or an occupational name for a maker of spears.

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