Word Meanings - SPEAR - Book Publishers vocabulary database

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: "A sharp ground spear." Chaucer. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears

Additional info about word: SPEAR

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: "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. The common reed. See Reed, n., 1. 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 , the common thistle .

Related words: (words related to SPEAR)

• SHALLOP
  A boat. thrust the shallop from the floating strand. Spenser. Note: The term shallop is applied to boats of all sizes, from a light canoe up to a large boat with masts and sails.
• GROUNDWORK
  That which forms the foundation or support of anything; the basis; the essential or fundamental part; first principle. Dryden.
• SHARPLY
  In a sharp manner,; keenly; acutely. They are more sharply to be chastised and reformed than the rude Irish. Spenser. The soldiers were sharply assailed with wants. Hayward. You contract your eye when you would see sharply. Bacon.
• LANCEOLATE; LANCEOLATED
  Rather narrow, tapering to a point at the apex, and sometimes at the base also; as, a lanceolate leaf.
• GROUNDEN
  p. p. of Grind. Chaucer.
• SHAFTING
  Shafts, collectivelly; a system of connected shafts for communicating motion.
• LANCE
  A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell. (more info) 1. A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen, and often decorated with a small flag; also, a
• SHARPER
  A person who bargains closely, especially, one who cheats in bargains; a swinder; also, a cheating gamester. Sharpers, as pikes, prey upon their own kind. L'Estrange. Syn. -- Swindler; cheat; deceiver; trickster; rogue. See Swindler.
• THRUSTING
  The white whey, or that which is last pressed out of the curd press, as for pressing curd in making cheese. (more info) 1. The act of pushing with force. The act of squeezing curd with the hand, to expel the whey. pl.
• POINT SWITCH
  A switch made up of a rail from each track, both rails being tapered far back and connected to throw alongside the through rail of either track.
• WEAPONRY
  Weapons, collectively; as, an array of weaponry.
• SWORDSMANSHIP
  The state of being a swordsman; skill in the use of the sword. Cowper.
• POINTLESSLY
  Without point.
• POINT-DEVICE; POINT-DEVISE
  Uncommonly nice and exact; precise; particular. You are rather point-devise in your accouterments. Shak. Thus he grew up, in logic point-devise, Perfect in grammar, and in rhetoric nice. Longfellow. (more info) + point point, condition + devis
• GROUNDNUT
  The fruit of the Arachis hypogæa ; the peanut; the earthnut. A leguminous, twining plant , producing clusters of dark purple flowers and having a root tuberous and pleasant to the taste. The dwarf ginseng . Gray. A European plant of the genus
• LANCEOLAR
  Lanceolate.
• THROW
  Pain; especially, pain of travail; throe. Spenser. Dryden.
• HUNT
  1. To search for or follow after, as game or wild animals; to chase; to pursue for the purpose of catching or killing; to follow with dogs or guns for sport or exercise; as, to hunt a deer. Like a dog, he hunts in dreams. Tennyson. 2. To search
• POINTAL
  The pistil of a plant. 2. A kind of pencil or style used with the tablets of the Middle Ages. "A pair of tablets . . . and a pointel." Chaucer.
• THROWING
  a. & n. from Throw, v. Throwing engine, Throwing mill, Throwing table, or Throwing wheel , a machine on which earthenware is first rudely shaped by the hand of the potter from a mass of clay revolving rapidly on a disk or table carried
• ENTERPARLANCE
  Mutual talk or conversation; conference. Sir J. Hayward.
• DEMILANCE
  A light lance; a short spear; a half pike; also, a demilancer.
• MISGROUND
  To found erroneously. "Misgrounded conceit." Bp. Hall.
• VALANCE
  p. pr. of avaler to go down, let down, descent ; but 1. Hanging drapery for a bed, couch, window, or the like, especially that which hangs around a bedstead, from the bed to the floor. Valance of Venice gold in needlework. Shak. 2. The drooping
• UNDERGROUND INSURANCE
  Wildcat insurance.
• WAY SHAFT
  A rock shaft.
• PLAYGROUND
  A piece of ground used for recreation; as, the playground of a school.
• COVER-POINT
  The fielder in the games of cricket and lacrosse who supports "point."
• ELANCE
  To throw as a lance; to hurl; to dart. While thy unerring hand elanced . . . a dart. Prior.
• OBLANCEOLATE
  Lanceolate in the reversed order, that is, narrowing toward the point of attachment more than toward the apex.
• PETULANCE; PETULANCY
  The quality or state of being petulant; temporary peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor. "The petulancy of our words." B. Jonson. Like pride in some, and like petulance in others. Clarendon. The lowering eye, the petulance, the