spear

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /spɪə̯(ɹ)/
• (Canada, US) IPA^(key): /spɪɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

spear (plural spears)

1. A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion.
2. (now chiefly historical) A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 187:

     Two of the four spears came directly from Lady Margaret's staff. One was her great-nephew Maurice St John […].

3. A lance with barbed prongs, used by fishermen to retrieve fish.
4. (ice hockey) An illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player.
5. (wrestling) In professional wrestling, a running tackle in which the wrestler's shoulder is driven into the opponent's midsection.
6. A shoot, as of grass; a spire.
7. The feather of a horse.
8. The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod.
9. A long, thin strip from a vegetable.

   asparagus and broccoli spears

• assegai, assagai, assagaie, assagay, assegay, azagaia, hassagay, hassaguay, zagaie, zagaye
• atlatl
• bayonet
• harpoon
• javelin
• joust
• lance
• pike
• spit, used to grill food on fire
• woomera

spear (third-person singular simple present spears, present participle spearing, simple past and past participle speared)

1. 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.
2. (intransitive) To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Mortimer to this entry?)

spear (comparative more spear, superlative most spear)

1. Male

   a spear counterpart

   • 2019 episode 1 A Very English Scandal

     When I was young, I was so desperate I'd go looking on the spear side.

2. Pertaining to male family members

   the spear side of the family

• distaff

• Asper, Earps, Pears, Peras, RESPA, Rapes, Spera, apers, apres, après, aprés, as per, asper, pares, parse, pears, prase, presa, præs., rapes, reaps, sarpe, spare

From Old Frisian spere, spiri, from Proto-Germanic *speru. Compare English spear, Dutch speer, German Speer.

spear c (plural spearen, diminutive spearke)

1. spear