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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spire \Spire\, verb (used without an object) [L. spirare to breathe. See {Spirit}.] To breathe. [Obs.] --Shenstone.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spire \Spire\, noun [OE. spire, spir, a blade of grass, a young shoot, AS. sp[=i]r; akin to G. spier a blade of grass, Dan. spire a sprout, sprig, Sw. spira a spar, Icel. sp[=i]ra.]
1. A slender stalk or blade in vegetation; as, a spire grass or of wheat.
An oak cometh up a little spire. --Chaucer.
2. 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.
3. (Mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the chargen in blasting.
4. The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
The spire and top of praises. --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spire \Spire\, noun [L. spira coil, twist; akin to Gr. ???: cf. F. spire.]
1. A spiral; a curl; a whorl; a twist. --Dryden.
2. (Geom.) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole. See {Spiral}, noun
{Spire bearer}. (Paleon.) Same as {Spirifer}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Spire \Spire\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Spired}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Spiring}.] 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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
spire
noun: a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building (usually a church or temple) and that tapers to a point at the top [syn: {steeple}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
200 Moby Thesaurus words for "spire": acme, antenna tower, anthrophore, apex, apogee, arise, ascend, aspire, axis, barbican, become airborne, belfry, bell tower, blade, bole, bract, bracteole, bractlet, brow, buss the clouds, campanile, cane, cap, carpophore, caudex, caulicle, caulis, claw skyward, climax, cloud nine, cog, colossus, column, comb, come up, cotyledon, crag, crest, crown, culm, culmen, culmination, cupola, curl upwards, derrick, dome, edge, extreme limit, extremity, fang, fire tower, flag, float, floral leaf, fly, fly aloft, foliole, footstalk, frond, funicule, funiculus, gain altitude, glume, go up, grow up, hang, harrow, haulm, heaven, heavens, height, high noon, highest pitch, highest point, hover, involucre, involucrum, jag, kite, lamina, lantern, leaf, leaflet, leafstalk, leave the ground, lemma, levitate, lighthouse, ligule, limit, loom, martello, martello tower, mast, maximum, meridian, minaret, monument, mount, mountaintop, ne plus ultra, needle, no place higher, noon, obelisk, observation tower, pagoda, peak, pecten, pedicel, peduncle, petal, petiole, petiolule, petiolus, pilaster, pile, pillar, pine needle, pinnacle, pitch, plane, point, poise, pole, projection, pylon, pyramid, rake, ratchet, rear, rear up, reed, ridge, rise, rise up, sawtooth, seed leaf, seedstalk, sepal, seventh heaven, shaft, sky, skyscraper, snag, snaggle, soar, spathe, spear, spiral, sprocket, spur, stalk, stand on tiptoe, stand up, standpipe, steeple, stem, stipe, stipula, stipule, stock, straw, stupa, summit, surge, swarm up, sweep up, take off, television mast, tigella, tip, tip-top, tooth, top, tope, tour, tower, trunk, turret, up, upgo, upgrow, upheave, upmost, upper extremity, uppermost, uprise, upspin, upstream, upsurge, upswarm, upwind, utmost, vertex, very top, water tower, windmill tower, zenith, zoom
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |