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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)

98,828 entries. Headwords are matched first, then definition text.

143 words match “SPIRE”

SPIRE n. 8 definitions

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

Having a spire; being in the form of a spire; as, a spired steeple. Mason.

ACROSPIRE n. 2 definitions

The sprout at the end of a seed when it begins to germinate; the plumule in germination; -- so called from its spiral form.

ASPIRE v. 4 definitions

ng high or great; to pant; to long; -- followed by to or after, and rarely by at; as, to aspire to a crown; to aspire after immorality. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; Aspiring to be angels, men rebel. Pope.

Aspiration. [Obs.]

One who aspires.

CONSPIRE v. 3 definitions

, as to commit treason or a crime, or to do some unlawful deed; to plot together. They conspired against [Joseph] to slay him. Gen. xxxvii. 18. You have conspired against our royal person, Joined with an enemy proclaimed. Shak.

One who conspires; a conspirator.

INSPIRE v. 7 definitions

he tender crops. Chaucer. Descend, ye Nine, descend and sing, The breathing instruments inspire. Pope.

INSPIRED a. 3 definitions

nimated by, or as by, a supernatural influence; affected by divine inspiration; as, the inspired prophets; the inspired writers.

One who, or that which, inspirer. "Inspirer of that holy flame." Cowper.

PERSPIRE v. 3 definitions

To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin; as, a fluid perspires.

To inspire anew. Milton.

RESPIRE v. 4 definitions

To take breath again; hence, to take rest or refreshment. Spenser. Here leave me to respire. Milton. From the mountains where I now respire. Byron.

SUSPIRE v. 2 definitions

To fetch a long, deep breath; to sigh; to breathe. Shak. Fireflies that suspire In short, soft lapses of transported flame. Mrs. Browning.

Ardently desired or longed for; earnestly coveted. [Obs.] Sir H. Wotton.

TRANSPIRE v. 6 definitions

To escape from secrecy; to become public; as, the proceedings of the council soon transpired. The story of Paulina's and Maximilian's mutual attachment had transpired through many of the travelers. De Quincey.

Rising aloft in air; high; lofty; as, aërial spires.

To aim at; to aspire; to covet. [Obs.] This proud man affects imperial Dryden.

Winding; full of windings and turnings; sinuous; tortuous; as, the anfractuous spires of a born. -- An*frac"tu*ous*ness, n.