Library / English Dictionary

SPEAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon

Synonyms:

lance; shaft; spear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("spear" is a kind of...):

arm; weapon; weapon system (any instrument or instrumentality used in fighting or hunting)

Meronyms (parts of "spear"):

barb (a subsidiary point facing opposite from the main point that makes an arrowhead or spear hard to remove)

spear-point; spearhead; spearpoint (the head and sharpened point of a spear)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spear"):

assagai; assegai (the slender spear of the Bantu-speaking people of Africa)

javelin (a spear thrown as a weapon or in competitive field events)

trident (a spear with three prongs)

Derivation:

spear (pierce with a spear)

spear (thrust up like a spear)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching fish

Synonyms:

fishgig; fizgig; gig; lance; spear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("spear" is a kind of...):

implement (instrumentation (a piece of equipment or tool) used to effect an end)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spear"):

harpoon (a spear with a shaft and barbed point for throwing; used for catching large fish or whales; a strong line is attached to it)

leister (a spear with three or more prongs; used for spearing fish (especially salmon))

Holonyms ("spear" is a member of...):

fishing gear; fishing rig; fishing tackle; rig; tackle (gear used in fishing)

Derivation:

spear (pierce with a spear)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pierce with a spear

Example:

spear fish

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "spear" is one way to...):

empale; impale; spike; transfix (pierce with a sharp stake or point)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

spear (a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon)

spear (an implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching fish)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Thrust up like a spear

Example:

The branch speared up into the air

Synonyms:

spear; spear up

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "spear" is one way to...):

jut; jut out; project; protrude; stick out (extend out or project in space)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

spear (a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Springing out from among the scrub the ape-men with huge clubs broke in upon the Indians and often felled three or four of them before they could be speared.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thenceforward he would be unafraid of them except when they bore in their hands their arrows, spears, and clubs.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning with grief and pain; and then striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides; but by good luck I had on a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Methinks that I would begin by breaking my spear.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then the sounds died down, and the rocks no longer thundered past, and he saw his tribespeople creeping close and closer, spearing the wounded as they came.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Many of these stems were twenty feet high, with sharp, strong tops, so that even as they stood they made formidable spears.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In fact, so inconceivably rapid were his movements, and so closely were the Indians tangled together, that they shot one another with the arrows; and one young hunter, hurling a spear at Buck in mid air, drove it through the chest of another hunter with such force that the point broke through the skin of the back and stood out beyond.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Then I would take the other's spear into my arm or my leg, or where it pleased him best to put it, and I would dash out his brains with my club.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When they cling like flies to the wall, and top is no less near than bottom, our men shall fall upon them from above and either side, with spears, and arrows, and guns.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Instantly a thunderous shout of delight burst from them, and we saw them rise from their seats, waving their paddles and spears madly in the air.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)