释义 |
spear I. \ˈspi(ə)r, -iə\ noun (-s) Etymology: Middle English spere, from Old English; akin to Old High German sper spear, Old Norse spjör spears, Latin sparus hunting spear, Greek sparos gilthead 1. : a thrusting or throwing weapon with a long shaft and sharp head or blade used in war or hunting 2. : something resembling a spear: as a. : a transverse spike or pole in a cheval-de-frise b. : a sharp-pointed instrument with barbs used in spearing fish c. : the tip end of a fishhook with barb and point d. : lance 2c e. : a body part (as a stylet or barb) that resembles a spear 3. : spearman; especially : a soldier armed with a spear 4. : a light ray : beam < the spears of an aurora were stabbing upward to the zenith — S.H.Adams > 5. : a tool used in recovering equipment lost in a drilled oil well • - under the spear II. adjective Etymology: Middle English spere, from spere, n. 1. : of, relating to, or resembling a spear 2. : of or relating to the father : male < the spear side of the family > — compare distaff III. verb (-ed/-ing/-s) Etymology: spear (I) transitive verb 1. : to pierce or strike with or as if with a spear < learning how to spear salmon > < spearing a cake … she put it on her plate — Clarissa F. Cushman > 2. : to impale (cut stalks or plants) on a lath in harvesting tobacco 3. : to clean out (a hole) with a reamer 4. : to catch (as a baseball) with a sudden thrust of the arm intransitive verb 1. : to thrust with or as if with a spear < hundreds of sharks spearing at the whale — H.A.Chippendale > 2. : to make a way into or through something in the manner of a spear < the headlight is a white shaft spearing into a misty night — R.M.Neal > < the great cathedral spears into the sky — Amy Lowell > IV. noun (-s) Etymology: alteration (influenced by spear) (I) of spire (I) 1. obsolete : steeple 2. a. : a usually young blade, shoot, or sprout (as of grass) b. (1) : a stalk of reed grass (2) dialect England : reeds; especially : reeds used for thatching V. intransitive verb (-ed/-ing/-s) : to thrust upward in a shoot, blade, or spear-shaped leaf < how beautiful are oats when the first wavering ranks of green come spearing bravely in the light — D.C.Peattie > VI. noun (-s) Etymology: alteration of spire (III) Britain : a rod to which the bucket of a mine pump is attached |