spear Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon
    lance; shaft.
  2. noun an implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching fish
    gig; fizgig; fishgig; lance.
  3. verb pierce with a spear
    • spear fish
  4. verb thrust up like a spear
    spear up.
    • The branch speared up into the air

WordNet

Spear noun
Etymology
OE. spere, AS. spere; akin to D. & G. speer, OS. & OHS. sper, Icel. spjör, pl., Dan. spær, L. sparus.
Definitions
  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 transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Speared ; present participle & verbal noun Spearing
Definitions
  1. To pierce with a spear; to kill with a spear; as, to spear a fish.
Spear intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire. Mortimer.

Webster 1913