GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Spear (?), n. [OE. spere, AS. spere; akin to D. & G. speer, OS. & OHS. sper, Icel. spjör, pl., Dan. spaer, 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. [See Illust. of Spearhead.] “A sharp ground spear.”  Chaucer.
   
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   They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Micah iv. 3.
   
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   2. Fig.: A spearman.  Sir W. Scott.
   
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   3. A sharp-pointed instrument with barbs, used for stabbing fish and other animals.
   
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   4. A shoot, as of grass; a spire.
   
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   5. The feather of a horse. See Feather, n., 4.
   
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   6. The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod.
   
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   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).
   
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2.       
   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”.
   
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3.       
   Spear, v. i. To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire.  Mortimer.
   
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