spear

== English == === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /spɪə̯(ɹ)/ (Canada, US) IPA(key): /spɪɹ/ Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ) === 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-. ==== Noun ==== spear (plural spears) A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion. (now chiefly historical) A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman. A lance with barbed prongs, used by fishermen to retrieve fish. (ice hockey) An illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player. (wrestling) In professional wrestling, a running tackle in which the wrestler's shoulder is driven into the opponent's midsection. A shoot, as of grass; a spire. The feather of a horse. The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod. A long, thin strip from a vegetable. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ===== See also ===== ==== Verb ==== spear (third-person singular simple present spears, present participle spearing, simple past and past participle speared) (transitive) To pierce with a spear. Hypernyms: run through; see also Thesaurus:impale Coordinate terms: jab; see also Thesaurus:stab (transitive, by extension) 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. (gridiron football) To tackle an opponent by ramming into them with one's helmet. (intransitive) To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do. (transitive, obsolete, especially in Regency England) To ignore as a social snub. Synonyms: blank, cut ===== Translations ===== ==== Adjective ==== spear (not comparable) Male. a spear counterpart Pertaining to male family members. the spear side of the family ===== Antonyms ===== distaff ===== Derived terms ===== === Etymology 2 === Alteration of spire, from Middle English spyre, spier, spir, from Old English spīr (“stalk of a plant, shoot, blade”). More at spire. ==== Noun ==== spear (plural spears) (botany) The sprout of a plant, stalk (obsolete) A church spire. ===== Derived terms ===== spearmint === Anagrams === rapes, après, Pears, prase, as per, Spera, presa, apers, spaer, RESPA, pears, Spare, après-, reaps, præs., apres, parse, Rapes, Earps, Asper, Presa, aprés, Peras, spare, asper, pares, sarpe == Middle English == === Noun === spear alternative form of spere (“spear”) == West Frisian == === Etymology === From Old Frisian spere, spiri, from Proto-West Germanic *speru, from Proto-Germanic *speru. === Noun === spear c (plural spearen, diminutive spearke) spear ==== Further reading ==== “spear”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011