Wiktionary

spur

See also: Spur, špur, and șpur

English edit

 
Western-style cowboy spurs (1).
 
Rocky spur (7)
 
spurs on Linaria pelisseriana (19)

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English spure, spore, from Old English spora, spura, from Proto-West Germanic *spurō, from Proto-Germanic *spurô, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH- (“to kick”).

Noun edit

spur (plural spurs)

  1. A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.
    Meronyms: rowel, prick
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi], line 4:
      Lives he, good uncle? thrice within this hour I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting; From helmet to the spur all blood he was.
    • 1786, Francis Grose, “Tilting Armour”, in A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, page 28:
      Tvvo ſorts of ſpurs ſeem to have been in uſe about the time of the Conqueſt, one called a pryck, having only a ſingle point like the gaffle of a fighting cock; the other conſiſting of a number of points of a conſiderable length, radiating from and revolving on a center, thence named the rouelle or vvheel ſpur.
  2. A jab given with the spurs.
    • 1832, The Atheneum, volume 31, page 493:
      I had hardly said the word, when Kit jumped into the saddle, and gave his horse a whip and a spur — and off it cantered, as if it were in as great a hurry to be married as Kit himself.
  3. (figurative) Anything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does a horse.
  4. An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster.
  5. Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city.
  6. Roots, tree roots.
  7. (geology) A mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.
  8. A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber.
  9. (carpentry) A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.
  10. (architecture) The short wooden buttress of a post.
  11. (architecture) A projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage.
  12. Ergotized rye or other grain.
  13. A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.
  14. (shipbuilding) A piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.
  15. (shipbuilding) A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed.
  16. (mining) A branch of a vein.
  17. (rail transport) A very short branch line of a railway line.
  18. (transport) A short branch road of a motorway, freeway or major road.
  19. (botany) A short thin side shoot from a branch, especially one that bears fruit or, in conifers, the shoots that bear the leaves.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
carpentry: brace strengthening a post and some connected part
architecture: short wooden buttress of a post
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb edit

spur (third-person singular simple present spurs, present participle spurring, simple past and past participle spurred)

  1. (transitive) To prod (especially a horse) on the side or flank, with the intent to urge motion or haste, to gig.
  2. (transitive) To urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object
    Synonyms: incite, stimulate, instigate, impel, drive; see also Thesaurus:incite
    • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], line 4:
      My desire / (More sharp than filed steel) did spur me forth...
    • 1940 May, “Overseas Railways: Acceleration Proceeds in U.S.A.”, in Railway Magazine, page 298:
      But the latest Santa Fe development, while not spurring the Rock Island to any further acceleration, has drawn fire from a totally unexpected quarter.
    • 2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 9]”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      What is unbearable, in fact, is the feeling, 13 years after 9/11, that America has been chasing its tail; that, in some whack-a-mole horror show, the quashing of a jihadi enclave here only spurs the sprouting of another there; that the ideology of Al Qaeda is still reverberating through a blocked Arab world whose Sunni-Shia balance (insofar as that went) was upended by the American invasion of Iraq.
  3. (transitive) To put spurs on.
    to spur boots
  4. (intransitive) To press forward; to travel in great haste.
  5. To form a spur (senses 17-18 of the noun)
    • 2021 June 16, Andrew Mourant, “Plans for new test centre remain on track: Testing for rolling stock and infrastructure”, in RAIL, number 933, page 42:
      It spurs off the Robin Hood line, providing ten miles of single-line test track with a three-mile double section, capable of testing up to 75mph.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 2 edit

See sparrow.

Noun edit

spur (plural spurs)

  1. A tern.

Etymology 3 edit

Short for spurious.

Noun edit

spur (plural spurs)

  1. (electronics) A spurious tone, one that interferes with a signal in a circuit and is often masked underneath that signal.

Etymology 4 edit

Noun edit

spur (plural spurs)

  1. The track of an animal, such as an otter; a spoor.
Translations edit

Etymology 5 edit

Verb edit

spur (third-person singular simple present spurs, present participle spurring, simple past and past participle spurred)

  1. (obsolete, dialectal) Alternative form of speer.
    • c. 1590 (date written), [John Lyly], Mother Bombie. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii:
      I haue yonder vncouered a faire girle, Ile be ſo bolde as ſpur her, vvhat might a bodie call her name?
    • 1625, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Elder Brother. A Comedy.”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iv, page 119, column 1:
      Are you come, old Maſter? Very good, your Horſe is well ſet up; but ere you part, I'll ride you, and ſpur your Reverend Juſticeſhip ſuch a queſtion, as I ſhall make the ſides of your Reputation bleed, truly I will. Now muſt I play at Bo-peep.
    • 1638, Thomas Heywood, "The Rape of Lucrece. A true Roman Tragedy", in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Heywood, Vol. V, John Pearson, 1874, pages 230 & 231.
      Clo[wne]. Fie upon't, never was poore Pompey ſo overlabour'd as I have beene, I thinke I have ſpurd my horſe ſuch a queſtion, that he is ſcarce able to wig or wag his tayle for an anſwere, but my Lady bad me ſpare for no horſe fleſh, and I thinke I have made him runne his race.
    • The Pall Mall Magazine, Vol. 33, 1904, page 435.
      They hadde spurred questions all the morning, his Majestie being so grossly overtaken with two whole nights' feasting, (which meant a surfeit of sausage laid upon a stomach not over strong), that between sick and sullen he bore a dull edge to the business.

Anagrams edit

Middle English edit

Noun edit

spur

  1. Alternative form of spore

Scots edit

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

spur (plural spurs)

  1. sparrow

References edit

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