spur
/spɝ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.66 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
noun
Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
- "She is a theame of honour and renowne, / A ſpurre to valiant and magnanimous deeds, / Whoſe preſent courage may beate downe our foes, / And fame in time to come canonize us, [...]"
- "[…] the strong-bas'd promontory / Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up / The pine and cedar […]"
- "I do note / That grief and patience, rooted in them both, / Mingle their spurs together."
Etymology
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: spure, spora, *spurō, *spurô, *sperH-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /spɝ/
- British English: /spɜː/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.