Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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.
Spear \Spear\, v. i.
To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See {Spire}.
--Mortimer.
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}).
Source : WordNet®
spear
n 1: a long pointed rod used as a weapon [syn: {lance}, {shaft}]
2: an implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching
fish [syn: {gig}, {fizgig}, {fishgig}, {lance}]
spear
v 1: pierce with a spear; "spear fish"
2: thrust up like a spear; "The branch speared up into the air"
[syn: {spear up}]