Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Spire

Spire (spīr), v. i. [L. spirare to breathe. See Spirit.] To breathe. [Obs.] Shenstone.

Spire, n. [OE. spire, spir, a blade of grass, a young shoot, AS. spīr; akin to G. spier a blade of grass, Dan. spire a sprout, sprig, Sw. spira a spar, Icel. spīra.] 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.

Spire, v. i. [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.

Spire, n. [L. spira coil, twist; akin to Gr. σπεῖρα: 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, n.

Spire bearer. (Paleon.) Same as Spirifer.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.