"spur" meaning in English

See spur in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /spɜːr/ Audio: en-us-spur.ogg [US] Forms: spur [singular], spurs [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A spur is a sharp metal piece on a rider’s boot used to make a horse go faster.
    Sense id: simple-spur-en-noun-N98TVQmn
  2. A spur is something that encourages or motivates action.
    Sense id: simple-spur-en-noun-NSKRz-vj

Verb

IPA: /spɜːr/ Audio: en-us-spur.ogg [US] Forms: spur [canonical], spurs [third-person, singular], spurred [past], spurred [past, participle], spurring [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|spur|r}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you spur someone or something, you encourage or push them to take action.
    Sense id: simple-spur-en-verb-NALFpGEf
  2. If you spur a horse, you make it go faster by using spurs on your boots.
    Sense id: simple-spur-en-verb-Bj~~nVhM
{
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      "form": "spur",
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    {
      "form": "spurred",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "spurred",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
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        "present",
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  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The teacher's words spurred him to study harder."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you spur someone or something, you encourage or push them to take action."
      ],
      "id": "simple-spur-en-verb-NALFpGEf",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He spurred his horse into a gallop."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you spur a horse, you make it go faster by using spurs on your boots."
      ],
      "id": "simple-spur-en-verb-Bj~~nVhM",
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        "transitive"
      ]
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      "ipa": "/spɜːr/"
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      "tags": [
        "US"
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}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spur",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "form": "spurs",
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
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      "categories": [],
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        {
          "text": "The cowboy wore boots with silver spurs."
        }
      ],
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        "A spur is a sharp metal piece on a rider’s boot used to make a horse go faster."
      ],
      "id": "simple-spur-en-noun-N98TVQmn",
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      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Winning the award was a spur for her to keep writing."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spur is something that encourages or motivates action."
      ],
      "id": "simple-spur-en-noun-NSKRz-vj",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
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      "ipa": "/spɜːr/"
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        "singular"
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    },
    {
      "form": "spurred",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "spurred",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spurring",
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        "present",
        "participle"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The teacher's words spurred him to study harder."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you spur someone or something, you encourage or push them to take action."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He spurred his horse into a gallop."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you spur a horse, you make it go faster by using spurs on your boots."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/spɜːr/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-spur.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spur"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spur",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spurs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The cowboy wore boots with silver spurs."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spur is a sharp metal piece on a rider’s boot used to make a horse go faster."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Winning the award was a spur for her to keep writing."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spur is something that encourages or motivates action."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/spɜːr/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-spur.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spur"
}

Download raw JSONL data for spur meaning in English (1.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-05 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (8c1bb29 and fb63907). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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