SPIRE

To breathe. [Obs.] Shenstone.

A slender stalk or blade in vegetation; as, a spire grass or of wheat. An oak cometh up a little spire. Chaucer.

A tapering body that shoots up or out to a point in a conical or pyramidal form. Specifically (Arch.), the roof of a tower when of a pyramidal form and high in proportion to its width; also, the pyramidal or aspiring termination of a tower which can not be said to have a roof, such as that of Strasburg cathedral; the tapering part of a steeple, or the steeple itself. "With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned." Milton. A spire of land that stand apart, Cleft from the main. Tennyson. Tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells Just undulates upon the listening ear. Cowper.

A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the chargen in blasting.

The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit. The spire and top of praises. Shak.

To shoot forth, or up in, or as if in, a spire. Emerson. It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms. Mortimer.

A spiral; a curl; a whorl; a twist. Dryden.

The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole. See Spiral, n. Spire bearer. (Paleon.) Same as Spirifer.