English
spear
see also: Spear
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /spɪə̯(ɹ)/
  • (Canada, America) IPA: /spɪɹ/
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-.

See also Western Frisian spear, Dutch speer, German Speer, Old Norse spjǫr, *sparrô, Middle Dutch sparre, Old Norse sparri, sperra ("rafter, beam"); also Latin sparus, Albanian ferrë.

Noun

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.
  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
Translations Translations Verb

spear (spears, present participle spearing; simple past and past participle speared)

  1. (transitive) To pierce with a spear.
  2. (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.
  3. (gridiron football) To tackle an opponent by ramming into them with one's helmet.
  4. (intransitive) To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do.
  5. (transitive, obsolete, social, esp. Regency England) To ignore as a social snub.
    Synonyms: cut
Adjective

spear (not comparable)

  1. Male.
    a spear counterpart
  2. Pertaining to male family members.
    the spear side of the family
Antonyms Etymology 2

Alteration of spire, from Middle English spyre, spier, spir, from Old English spīr.

Noun

spear (plural spears)

  1. (botany) The sprout of a plant, stalk
  2. (obsolete) A church spire.
Spear
Etymology

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

Proper noun
  1. Surname.


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