spear
pronunciation
How to pronounce spear in British English:
UK [spɪə(r)]
How to pronounce spear in American English:
US [spɪr]
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- Noun:
- a long pointed rod used as a weapon
- an implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching fish
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- Verb:
- pierce with a spear
- thrust up like a spear
Word Origin
- spear
- spear: [OE] Spear is a general Germanic word, with relatives in German and Dutch speer (the Scandinavian forms have died out). Its ultimate ancestry is uncertain, although it may have distant links with English spar and Latin sparus ‘hunting spear’.
- spear (n.1)
- "weapon with a penetrating head and a long wooden shaft, meant to be thrust or thrown," Old English spere "spear, javelin, lance," from Proto-Germanic *speri (cognates: Old Norse spjör, Old Saxon, Old Frisian sper, Dutch speer, Old High German sper, German Speer "spear"), from PIE root *sper- (1) "spear, pole" (cognates: Old Norse sparri "spar, rafter," and perhaps also Latin sparus "hunting spear").
- spear (n.2)
- "sprout of a plant," 1640s, earlier "church spire" (c. 1500); variant of spire (n.).
- spear (v.)
- 1755, from spear (n.1). Related: Speared; spearing.
Example
- 1. The spear is now on display at the treasury of echmiadzin .
- 2. Soon every newspaper in the land was carrying the portrait , entitled " the spear " .
- 3. Caspian took his hand and edmund , leaning forward , began to lower his spear into the water .
- 4. The mbuti are pygmies , about 4 feet tall , but they are powerful and tough . Any one of them could take down an elephant with only a short-handled spear .
- 5. The name of the monastery is derived from the spear of longinus that was used to pierce the body of jesus christ on the cross .