Spear (?), n. [OE. spere, AS. spere; akin to D. & G. speer, OS. & OHS. sper, Icel. spjor, pl., Dan. spaer, 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.
[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).
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
Spear, v. i.
To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire.
Mortimer.
© Webster 1913.