spear

Meaning

Noun

1. A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion.
2. (historical) A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman.
3. A lance with barbed prongs, used by fishermen to retrieve fish.
4. An illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player.
5. In professional wrestling, a running tackle in which the wrestler's shoulder is driven into the opponent's midsection.
6. A shoot, as of grass; a spire.
7. The feather of a horse.
8. The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod.
9. A long, thin strip from a vegetable.

Verb

1. (transitive) To pierce with a spear.
2. (broadly, transitive) To penetrate or strike with, or as if with, any long narrow object; to make a thrusting motion that catches an object on the tip of a long device.
3. To tackle an opponent by ramming into them with one's helmet.
4. (intransitive) To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do.
5. (especially, obsolete, transitive) To ignore as a social snub.

Adj

1. (not-comparable) Male.
2. (not-comparable) Pertaining to male family members.

Synonyms

lance

javelin

pierce

stab

pike

dart

🎯

harpoon

weapon

poke

prick

shaft

sting

shoot

inject

fizgig

thrust

leister

impale

bayonet

sew

gore

gig

arrow

fork

fish spear

nail

border upon

fishgig

spit

spear up

sword

touch

sprout

staff

war

halberd

puncture

punch

👊

spike

forge

bore

flag

boat hook

awl

fish-fork

bite

drill

knife

🔪

dismiss

beg

Translations

lance

Speer

lancia

lanza

lança

speer

javelot

Lanze

llança

Spieß

lans

mızrak

javelina

hasta

Pronounced as (IPA)

/spɪə̯(ɹ)/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: spere

Inherited from Old English: spere

Cognate with Western Frisian: spear

Cognate with Dutch: speer

Cognate with German: Speer

Cognate with Old Norse: spjǫr

Cognate with Middle Dutch: sparre

Cognate with Old Norse: sparri

Cognate with Latin: sparus

Cognate with Albanian: ferrë

Inherited from Middle English: spyre

Inherited from Old English: spīr

In summary

From Middle English spere, sperre, spear, from Old English spere, from Proto-West Germanic *speru, from Proto-Germanic *speru, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH-.
Cognates
See also West Frisian spear, Dutch speer, German Speer, Old Norse spjǫr, *sparrô, Middle Dutch sparre (“rafter”), Old Norse sparri (“spar, rafter”), sperra (“rafter, beam”); also Latin sparus (“short spear”), Albanian ferrë (“thorn, thornbush”).