SPEAR

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.

Fig.: A spearman. Sir W. Scott.

A sharp-pointed instrument with barbs, used for stabbing fish and other animals.

A shoot, as of grass; a spire.

The feather of a horse. See Feather, n., 4.

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).

To pierce with a spear; to kill with a spear; as, to spear a fish.

To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire. Mortimer.