spear

CEFRB1

/spɪə̯(ɹ)/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A long weapon with a sharp point used for throwing or hunting.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A lance with barbed prongs, used by fishermen to retrieve fish.

Examples

  • He hurled a spear at his enemy.

  • The tip of the spear was dipped in a deadly poison.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman.

  2. A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion.

  3. An illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player.

More examples

In context

  • the spear side of the family

  • asparagus and broccoli spears

  • a spear counterpart

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The hunter threw a blank at the deer, but unfortunately missed its target.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English spere, sperre, spear, from Old English spere, from Proto-West Germanic *speru, from Proto-Germanic *speru, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH-. Cognates See also West Frisian spear, Dutch speer, German Speer, Old Norse spjǫr, *sparrô, Middle Dutch sparre (“rafter”), Old Norse sparri (“spar, rafter”), sperra (“rafter, beam”); also Latin sparus (“short spear”), Albanian ferrë (“thorn, thornbush”).