to a great distance. — Speaking tube, a tube for conveying speech, especially from one room to another
at a distance. — To be on speaking terms, to be slightly acquainted.
Speaking
(Speak"ing), n.
1. The act of uttering words.
2. Public declamation; oratory.
Spear
(Spear) n. [OE. spere, AS. spere; akin to D. & G. speer, OS. & OHS. sper, Icel. spjör, pl., Dan.
spær, L. sparus.]
1. A long, pointed weapon, used in war and hunting, by thrusting or throwing; a weapon with a long shaft
and a sharp head or blade; a lance. [See Illust. of Spearhead.] "A sharp ground spear." Chaucer.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Micah iv. 3. 2. Fig.: A spearman. Sir W. Scott.
3. A sharp-pointed instrument with barbs, used for stabbing fish and other animals.
4. A shoot, as of grass; a spire.
5. The feather of a horse. See Feather, n., 4.
6. The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod.
Spear foot, the off hind foot of a horse. — Spear grass. (Bot.) (a) The common reed. See Reed,
n., 1. (b) meadow grass. See under Meadow. — Spear hand, the hand in which a horseman holds
a spear; the right hand. Crabb. — Spear side, the male line of a family. Lowell. — Spear thistle
(Bot.), the common thistle (Cnicus lanceolatus).
Spear
(Spear), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Speared ; p. pr. & vb. n. Spearing.] To pierce with a spear; to
kill with a spear; as, to spear a fish.
Spear
(Spear), v. i. To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire. Mortimer.
Spearer
(Spear"er) n. One who uses a spear; as, a spearer of fish.
Spearfish
(Spear"fish`) n. (Zoöl.) (a) A large and powerful fish (Tetrapturus albidus) related to the swordfish,
but having scales and ventral fins. It is found on the American coast and the Mediterranean. (b) The
carp sucker.
Spearhead
(Spear"head`) n. The pointed head, or end, of a spear.
Spearman
(Spear"man) n.; pl. Spearmen One who is armed with a spear. Acts xxiii. 23.
Spearmint
(Spear"mint`) n. [So named from its spiry, not capitate, inflorescence. Dr. Prior.] (Bot.) A
species of mint (Mentha viridis) growing in moist soil. It vields an aromatic oil. See Mint, and Mentha.
Spearwood
(Spear"wood`) n. (Bot.) An Australian tree and its tough wood, used by the natives for
spears.
Spearwort
(Spear"wort`) n. [AS. sperewyrt.] (Bot.) A name given to several species of crowfoot (Ranunculus)
which have spear-shaped leaves.
Speary
(Spear"y) a. Having the form of a spear.
