spur

plural spurs

1. A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.

   Lives he, good uncle? thrice within this hour I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting; From helmet to the spur all blood he was.

   1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi], line 4

   1 more example

   Tvvo ſorts of ſpurs ſeem to have been in uſe about the time of the Conqueſt, one called a pryck, having only a ſingle point like the gaffle of a fighting cock; the other conſiſting of a number of points of a conſiderable length, radiating from and revolving on a center, thence named the rouelle or vvheel ſpur.

   1786, Francis Grose, “Tilting Armour”, in A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, page 28

2. A jab given with the spurs.

   I had hardly said the word, when Kit jumped into the saddle, and gave his horse a whip and a spur — and off it cantered, as if it were in as great a hurry to be married as Kit himself.

   1832, The Atheneum, volume 31, page 493

3. figurativelyAnything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does a horse.

   She is a theame of honour and renowne, / A ſpurre to valiant and magnanimous deeds, / Whoſe preſent courage may beate downe our foes, / And fame in time to come canonize us, [...]

   c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

4. An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster.
5. Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city.
6. Roots, tree roots.

   I do note / That grief and patience, rooted in them both, / Mingle their spurs together.

   1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], line 57

   1 more example

   […] the strong-bas'd promontory / Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up / The pine and cedar […]

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

7. geographyA mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.

   But a narrow spur of rocks arched out and over the hole, ending in an outcrop perhaps a hundred feet across.

   1986, Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic, published 2022, page 121

8. A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber.
9. businessA brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.
10. architectureThe short wooden buttress of a post.
11. architectureA projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage.
12. Ergotized rye or other grain.
13. A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.
14. businessA piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.
15. businessA curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed.
16. businessA branch of a vein.
17. rail transportA very short branch line of a railway line.
18. transportA short branch road of a motorway, freeway or major road.
19. biologyA short thin side shoot from a branch, especially one that bears fruit or, in conifers, the shoots that bear the leaves.

present singular third person spurs · participle present spurring · participle past spurred · past spurred

1. transitiveTo prod (especially a horse) on the side or flank, with the intent to urge motion or haste, to gig.

   Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head! Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood; Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!

   c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], line 339

2. transitiveTo urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object

   My desire / (More sharp than filed steel) did spur me forth...

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], line 4

   2 more examples

   But the latest Santa Fe development, while not spurring the Rock Island to any further acceleration, has drawn fire from a totally unexpected quarter.

   1940 May, “Overseas Railways: Acceleration Proceeds in U.S.A.”, in Railway Magazine, page 298

   What is unbearable, in fact, is the feeling, 13 years after 9/11, that America has been chasing its tail; that, in some whack-a-mole horror show, the quashing of a jihadi enclave here only spurs the sprouting of another there; that the ideology of Al Qaeda is still reverberating through a blocked Arab world whose Sunni-Shia balance (insofar as that went) was upended by the American invasion of Iraq.

   2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 9]”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: incite, stimulate, instigate, impel, drive, abet, actuate, goose

3. transitiveTo put spurs on.

   to spur boots

4. intransitiveTo press forward; to travel in great haste.
5. To form a spur (senses 17-18 of the noun)

   It spurs off the Robin Hood line, providing ten miles of single-line test track with a three-mile double section, capable of testing up to 75mph.

   2021 June 16, Andrew Mourant, “Plans for new test centre remain on track: Testing for rolling stock and infrastructure”, in RAIL, number 933, page 42

plural spurs

1. A tern.

plural spurs

1. businessA spurious tone, one that interferes with a signal in a circuit and is often masked underneath that signal.

plural spurs

1. The track of an animal, such as an otter; a spoor.

present singular third person spurs · participle present spurring · participle past spurred · past spurred

1. alternativedialectalobsoleteAlternative form of speer.

   I haue yonder vncouered a faire girle, Ile be ſo bolde as ſpurre her, vvhat might a bodie call her name?

   c. 1590 (date written), [John Lyly], Mother Bombie. […], London: […] Thomas Scarlet for Cuthbert Burby, published 1594, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii

   3 more examples

   Are you come, old Maſter? Very good, your Horſe is well ſet up; but ere you part, I'll ride you, and ſpur your Reverend Juſticeſhip ſuch a queſtion, as I ſhall make the ſides of your Reputation bleed, truly I will. Now muſt I play at Bo-peep.

   1625, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Elder Brother. A Comedy.”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iv, page 119, column 1

   1638, Thomas Heywood, "The Rape of Lucrece. A true Roman Tragedy", in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Heywood, Vol. V, John Pearson, 1874, pages 230 & 231. Clo[wne]. Fie upon't, never was poore Pompey ſo overlabour'd as I have beene, I thinke I have ſpurd my horſe ſuch a queſtion, that he is ſcarce able to wig or wag his tayle for an anſwere, but my Lady bad me ſpare for no horſe fleſh, and I thinke I have made him runne his race.

   The Pall Mall Magazine, Vol. 33, 1904, page 435. They hadde spurred questions all the morning, his Majestie being so grossly overtaken with two whole nights' feasting, (which meant a surfeit of sausage laid upon a stomach not over strong), that between sick and sullen he bore a dull edge to the business.

plural Spurs

1. An occupational surname from Middle English

   Synonyms: Spoor, Spoore, Spoores, Spoors, Spor, Spore, Spores, Spors

plural Spurs

1. ball gamessomeone connected with Tottenham Hotspur FC, as a fan, player, coach etc.