Adjacent Words

Spear definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPEAR, n.
1. A long pointed weapon, used in war and hunting by thrusting or throwing; a lance.
2. A sharp pointed instrument with barbs; used for stabbing fish and other animals.
3. A shoot, as of grass; usually spire.
SPEAR, v.t. To pierce with a spear; to kill with a spear; as, to spear a fish.
SPEAR, v.i. To shoot into a long stem. [See Spire.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon [syn: spear, lance, shaft]
2: an implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching fish [syn: spear, gig, fizgig, fishgig, lance] v
1: pierce with a spear; "spear fish"
2: thrust up like a spear; "The branch speared up into the air" [syn: spear, spear up]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English spere, from Old English; akin to Old High German sper spear, Latin sparus hunting spear Date: before 12th century 1. a thrusting or throwing weapon with long shaft and sharp head or blade 2. a sharp-pointed instrument with barbs used in spearing fish 3. spearman II. verb Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. to pierce, strike, or take with or as if with a spear <spear salmon> <speared a chop from the platter> 2. to catch (as a baseball) with a sudden thrust of the arm intransitive verb to thrust at or wound something with or as if with a spear • spearer noun III. adjective Date: 1861 paternal 3 <the spear side of the family> — compare distaff IV. intransitive verb Etymology: ⁵spear Date: 1573 of a plant to thrust a spear upward V. noun Etymology: alteration of ¹spire Date: 1647 a usually young blade, shoot, or sprout (as of grass)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

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

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spear Spear, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Speared; p. pr. & vb. n. Spearing.] To pierce with a spear; to kill with a spear; as, to spear a fish.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spear Spear, v. i. To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire. --Mortimer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spear Spear, n. [OE. spere, AS. spere; akin to D. & G. speer, OS. & OHS. sper, Icel. spj["o]r, pl., Dan. sp[ae]r, L. sparus.] 1. A long, pointed weapon, used in war and hunting, by thrusting or throwing; a weapon with a long shaft and a sharp head or blade; a lance. Note: [See Illust. of Spearhead.] ``A sharp ground spear.'' --Chaucer. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. --Micah iv. 3. 2. Fig.: A spearman. --Sir W. Scott. 3. A sharp-pointed instrument with barbs, used for stabbing fish and other animals. 4. A shoot, as of grass; a spire. 5. The feather of a horse. See Feather, n., 4. 6. The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod. Spear foot, the off hind foot of a horse. Spear grass. (Bot.) (a) The common reed. See Reed, n., 1. (b) meadow grass. See under Meadow. Spear hand, the hand in which a horseman holds a spear; the right hand. --Crabb. Spear side, the male line of a family. --Lowell. Spear thistle (Bot.), the common thistle (Cnicus lanceolatus).

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(spears, spearing, speared) 1. A spear is a weapon consisting of a long pole with a sharp metal point attached to the end. N-COUNT 2. If you spear something, you push or throw a pointed object into it. Spear a piece of fish with a carving fork and dip it in the batter... VERB: V n 3. Asparagus or broccoli spears are individual stalks of asparagus or broccoli. N-COUNT: with supp

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Lance, javelin. 2. Shoot, spire.

Moby Thesaurus

anthrophore, assegai, auger, axis, bag, bayonet, bill, bine, bite, blade, bole, bore, bough, bract, bracteole, bractlet, branch, branchedness, branchiness, broach, burgeon, cane, carpophore, catch, caudex, caulicle, caulis, cotyledon, countersink, culm, dagger, deadwood, dirk, drill, empierce, enmesh, ensnare, entangle, entrap, fix, flag, flagellum, floral leaf, foliole, footstalk, fork, foul, frond, funicule, funiculus, glume, gore, gouge, gouge out, halberd, harpoon, haulm, hole, honeycomb, hook, impale, involucre, involucrum, javelin, knife, lamina, lance, land, lasso, leaf, leaflet, leafstalk, lemma, ligule, limb, mesh, nail, needle, net, noose, offshoot, partisan, pedicel, peduncle, penetrate, perforate, petal, petiole, petiolule, petiolus, pierce, pike, pile, pine needle, pink, plunge in, poniard, prick, punch, puncture, ramage, ramification, ream, ream out, reed, riddle, rope, run through, runner, saber, sack, sarment, scion, seed leaf, seedstalk, sepal, shoot, skewer, slip, snag, snare, sniggle, spathe, spike, spire, spit, spontoon, spray, sprig, sprit, sprout, stab, stalk, stem, stick, stiletto, stipe, stipula, stipule, stock, stolon, straw, sucker, switch, sword, take, tangle, tangle up with, tap, tendril, thallus, tigella, transfix, transpierce, trap, trepan, trephine, trunk, twig