spear

It's not like you killed someone
It's not like you drove a spiteful spear into his side
Talk to Jesus Christ as if he knows the reasons why
He did it all for you

2000, “Judith”, performed by A Perfect Circle:

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

Now toil'd the Bruce, the battle done ,
To use his conquest boldly won;
And gave command for horse and spear
To press the Southron's scatter'd rear

1815, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC:

Two of the four spears came directly from Lady Margaret's staff. One was her great-nephew Maurice St John […].

2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 187:

(now chiefly historical) A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman.

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

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

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(wrestling) In professional wrestling, a running tackle in which the wrestler's shoulder is driven into the opponent's midsection.

The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod.

asparagus and broccoli spears

харпун

sharp tool used by fishermen to retrieve fish

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”).


spear

By the 1970s, herders were spearing rhinos and poisoning lions to protest the loss of their land to conservation, then represented by the independent Kenyan government.

2012, Robin Reid, Savannas of Our Birth:

Former teammate Derek Sanderson recalls that Maki hit Ted from behind as Green was clearing the puck from the Boston zone. Green turned to knock Maki down, but Maki speared him as he rose from the ice.

2003, Stan Fischler, Shirley Fischler, Who's who in Hockey:

(transitive, by extension) To penetrate or strike with, or as if with, any long narrow object; to make a thrusting motion that catches an object on the tip of a long device.

(gridiron football) To tackle an opponent by ramming into them with one's helmet.

you may prepare them for spearing by laying the Keys in Earth or Sand

1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:

(intransitive) To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do.

The Monthly Magazine, Or, British Register for 1798 included an explanation by a reader of how the cut was carried out in his college days in a lengthy letter to the editor, signed by the pseudonym "Ansonius." In his rambling letter, Ansonius noted that when he was at college, " … if a man passed an old acquaintance wittingly, without recognizing him, he was said— ‘To cut him.’" Ansonius then went on to explain the performance of the cut and noted that for a time the term "to spear" was used instead of to cut. However, that term did not remain long in use, and this act was generally known as "the cut" ever after.

27 September 2013, Kane, Kathryn, The Regency Redingote Blog The Cut: The Ultimate & Final Social Weapon

(transitive, obsolete, especially in Regency England) To ignore as a social snub.

en-verb

spear (third-person singular simple present spears, present participle spearing, simple past and past participle speared)

spears (present singular third-person)
spearing (participle present)
speared (participle past)
speared (past)


spear

a spear counterpart

When I was young, I was so desperate I'd go looking on the spear side.

2018, A Very English Scandal (TV series), episode 1:

the spear side of the family


spear

Alteration of spire, from Middle English spyre, spier, spir, from Old English spīr (“stalk of a plant, shoot, blade”). More at spire.


spear

head

spear c (plural spearen, diminutive spearke)

From Old Frisian spere, spiri, from Proto-West Germanic *speru, from Proto-Germanic *speru.