Forms: α. 1–7 spere (3 spære), 3–6 sper (5 sperre), 5–7 speere. β. 5–6 speir, 5 speire, speyre, spayre, 6 spair. γ. 6–7 speare, 7– spear. [OE. spere, = OFris. spiri, spere, sper (WFris. spear), MDu. spere, speer (Du. speer), OS. and MLG., OHG. and MHG. sper (G. speer), ON. pl. spjǫr; MSw. spär and obs. Da. spær are from MLG. It is doubtful whether L. sparus, hunting-spear, is related.]
I. 1. A thrusting weapon consisting of a stout wooden staff of some length, on which a sharp-pointed head, usually of iron or steel, is socketed or otherwise securely fixed; a lance; also, a shorter or lighter weapon of this kind used for throwing.
α. c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), C 610. Contos, speoru.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., III. xvii. § 1. Þa for he … & funde hiene ænne be weʓe licgan mid sperum tosticad.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John xix. 34. An ðara cempa mið spere sidu his untynde.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xii. 55. Þæt hors hine bær forð swa þæt þæt spere him eode þurh ut.
c. 1060. O. E. Chron. (MS. C), an. 1055. Ær þær wære æniʓ spere ʓescoten, ær fleah ðæt Englisce folc.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 60. Þerefter heo schekeð hire spere, & nehlecheð up on hire, & … ȝiueð speres wunden.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, 179, in O. E. Misc. Mid speres and myd staues and oþe vele þinge.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 1446. Wiþ a spere feloun He smot him in þe side.
a. 1400. Sir Perc., 191. Off alle hir lordes faire gere Wolde scho noȝte with hir bere, Bot a lyttille Scottes spere.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. x. 48. Vlfyus and Brastias dressid theire speres and ranne to gyder with grete raundon.
1483. Cath. Angl., 354/2. A Sperre for a bayre, excipulum, venabulum.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 36 b. The Scottes dayly shipped long speres called Colleyne Clowystes.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 11. The Champion … to the Dwarfe a while his needlesse spere he gaue.
β. c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6494. Two speirus full dispitus he sparet to cast.
14[?]. Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R., XVII. xxxi. (Bodl. MS.). Dartes of reede … so longe … þt þei vse hem in stede of speirs.
1562. Winȝet, Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 78. That knycht quha peirsit our Lordis syde with the speir.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 330. The Scotis ouerthrew monie Jnglismen with speiris.
γ. 1524. St. Papers Hen. VIII., II. 115. Englishe speares, bowes, and billes.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 130. The chief Prophet … thrusteth his speare into hym.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 109. Some after the fashion of Italie, using a Scull, a Iacke, a Sword, and two light Speares.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 292. His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine Hewn on Norwegian hills … were but a wand.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), IV. 403. The spears of both these champions are still shewn here.
1813. Scott, Trierm., I. xvii. Four of the train combined to rear The terrors of Tintadgel’s spear.
1889. R. S. S. Baden-Powell, Pigsticking, 90. The short or ‘jobbing’ spear is generally used throughout Bengal and Upper India.
b. Without article, freq. coupled with shield, sword, etc., and used in a collective sense.
c. 1205. Lay., 548. Brutus … mid sweord & mid spere al he todrof þes kinges here.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1022. He myhte bet teche ane beore To bere scheld and spere.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20817. To be þan for vs sper and scheild.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 12. Wyth-oute spores other spere spakliche he loked.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5823. That she … nyl … smyte a stroke in this bataile, With darte, ne mace, spere, ne knyf.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IV. 302. All … Off that party that mycht weild bow or sper.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, liv. 16. Quhai for hir saik, with speir and scheld, Preiffis maist mychtelye in the feld [etc.].
1595. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 116/2. With jak, knaipisca, speir and suord.
1611. Bible, Jer. vi. 23. They shall lay hold on bowe and speare.
1725. Pope, Odyssey, X. 169. I climb’d a cliff, with spear and sword in hand.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., V. xi. And still, from copse and heather deep, Fancy saw spear and broadsword peep.
1849. Aytoun, Lays Scott. Caval., 70. Why go you forth … With spear and belted brand?
† c. Const. of (peace or war). Spear of peace, a blunt spear used in jousting. Obs.
a. 1400. Sir Degrev., 1177. Tak ether of ȝow a spere, Bothe of pes and of were. Ibid., 1261. To gret sperus of pese Bothe these lordes hem chese.
1508. Kennedy, Flyting w. Dunbar, 545. Deulbere, thy spere of were, but feir, thou yelde.
† d. The sharp head of a pike. Obs. rare.
1690. Exercise of Foot, 121. Trail your Pikes with the Spears behind. Ibid., 144. The Pikemen Charge their Pikes to the Front, the Spears in a Line Breast high.
e. Mil. One of the transverse spikes or poles of a cheval-de-frise.
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict.
1828. J. M. Spearman, Brit. Gunner (ed. 2), 142. Weight, Dimension, &c. of Chevaux-De-Frize…. Barrel, Length 9 ft. 5 in. Spears, 20. Length 6 ft.
1834–47. J. S. Macaulay, Field Fortif. (1851), 82. The spears of the chevaux-de-frise should be so arranged as to present three rows of points to the enemy.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), s.v. Chevaux de frise, Each length is composed of a barrel or stout beam…, with strong sharp spears driven through it, in two or more different directions.
2. In transf. and fig. uses.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxv. 244. Ða speru ðære soðfæstnesse, ðæt sindon haliʓra ʓewrita manunga.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28046. O licheri agayn þe spere Wit chastite þou sal þe were.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 231. Compleyne for hym that was your aspre sper.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxiv. 40. Inconstance…; Secreit invy, and of dispyt the speir.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 29. Will is a shrewde boy…. A gentle white spurre, and at neede a sure speare.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. i. 171. I am … Pierc’d to the soule with slanders venom’d speare.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 31. The crawling glaciers pierce me with the spears Of their moon-freezing crystals.
1873. M. Arnold, Lit. & Dogma (1876), 328. The spear of Butler’s reasoning.
† 3. In allusive phrases or uses. a. Under a spear, under one banner, pennon or flag. Obs.–1
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 11861. So þat þer were To & tuenti kniȝtes vnder a spere.
† b. To sell at the spear, to put, etc., under the spear, to sell by auction. To pass under the spear, to ‘come under the hammer.’ Obs.
After the common L. phrase sub hasta vendere.
1600. Holland, Livy, II. xvii. 55. The rest of the inhabitants were sold at the speare in ouvert market like slaves. Ibid., XXIII. xxxii. 496. Their fields he would lay wast; sell their servants in port sale at the speare.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, II. i. When you see … that … their Houses, and fine Gardens [are] giuen away, And all their goods, vnder the Speare.
1689. Evelyn, Lett. to Pepys, 12 Aug., in E.’s Diary (1827), IV. 319. The noblest library that ever pass’d under the speare at outcry.
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem. (1736), IV. 96. They persuaded him to put all the Furniture of the House immediately under the Spear.
† c. Stroke of the spear: (see quot. and FEATHER sb. 11 b).
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v., The feather of a horse, called the stroke of the spear, is a mark in the neck, or near the shoulder, of some Barbs [etc.].
4. A soldier armed with or carrying a spear; a spearman. Now arch.
c. 1205. Lay., 7453. Com of Muriene, moni spere kene.
a. 1400. Sir Degrev., 319. The best mene that he ledde, He hadd y-lefft home to wedde, With ffyffty spers is he ffledd.
c. 1450. Contin. Brut, 580. One Watkyn Ruskyn, a gentill man and a gud spere, was slayn at þe wynnyng of þe same bullewerk.
1475. Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.), 38. Ser John Chaundos,… whiche had bene in many batailes, and had the governaunce of Ml. speris.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 55. The Erle of Huntyngdone,… with twoo M. archers, and foure hundred speres, was sente into Gascoyne.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 39. ije speiris witht the earle of Angus and ije witht my lord governour.
1618. Bolton, Florus (1636), 55. Caius Minutius, a speare in the fourth Legion.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxxv. That plump of spears that are spurring on so fast.
1885. Ruskin, Pleas. Eng., 113. He sent … for some German knights, and got five hundred spears.
† b. (See quots. and PENSIONER 2.) Obs.
1539. Cranmer, Lett. to Cromwell, in Rem. (1833), I. 296. Edward Askew … is by some nobleman preferred unto the room of one of these new spears in the Court.
1540. Wriothesley, Chron. (Camden), I. 112. This yeare [1539], the kinge made many yong gentlemen speres, and gave them 5 l. a peece.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 6. Also this yere [1509], the kyng ordeined fiftie Gentle menne to bee speres, euery of theim to haue an Archer, a Dimilaunce and a Custrell, and euery Spere to haue three greate Horses. Ibid., 237 b. In December [1539] were appointed to wayte on the kynges hyghnes person fiftie Gentelmen called Pencioners or Speares, lyke as they were in the first yere of the kyng.
c. A hunter or sportsman who uses a spear; a pig-sticker.
1849. E. B. Eastwick, Dry Leaves, 75. One of the best spears who ever chased the wild boar over wide plain and tangled hill.
1863. Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 139. Mr. Mildred, an indigo planter, a first-rate spear and rough-rider.
5. A sharp-pointed weapon used for various purposes; esp. one for catching fish, a leister.
Also with defining terms, as eel-, fish-, salmon-, trout-spear.
1551–. [see SALMON sb.1 4].
1555–. [see EEL-SPEAR].
1611. [see FISH sb.1 6 b].
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 22 July 1654. Abounding in trouts catch’d by speare in the night.
1766. State of Proc., A. Macdonald v. Dk. Gordon, Pursuer’s Proof, 13. The fish … were killed and taken out by spears.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 208. They renew their attacks, till the whale begins to be quite enfeebled…, when they plunge their longer spears into various parts of its body.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxvi. This chase, in which the fish is pursued and struck with barbed spears,… is much practised at the mouth of the Esk.
1840. Blaine, Encycl. Rural Sports, § 2889. The salmon is also caught with a spear, which they dart into him as he swims near the surface of the water.
b. A pointed iron bar. rare.
1607. Dekker, Jests to make you Merrie, G ij. If they haue … taken note of any casement, without a speere going vp in the middle. Ibid., G ij b.
c. A prong of a fork. (Cf. SPEER sb.2)
1739. Baker, in Phil. Trans., XLI. 135. A Young Woman … received a Wound just in the Pupil of her right Eye, by the Spear of a common Fork.
1748. Aery, Ibid. XLV. 412. She received a Wound in the Cornea of her right Eye, by the Spear of a common Fork, which also divided the Uvea.
6. a. pl. The thorns or prickles of a plant, the spines or spikes of a hedgehog, sharp fins of a fish, etc. Chiefly poet.; now rare.
[1503. Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, 130. Vpone the awfull Thrissill scho beheld, And saw him kepit with a busche of speiris.]
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 279. The Hedghog [printed Hehghog] rowleth vpon the Serpent … and killeth his aduersary, carrying the flesh vpon his speares.
1693. Dryden, etc. Juvenal, iv. (1697), 91. Mark the pointed spears That from thy Hand on his pierc’d Back he wears! Note. He makes the Flatterer call the sharp Fins rising on the Fishes back, Spears.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 161. The very bramble, weeping ’Neath dewy tear-drops that its spears surround. Ibid. (1827), Sheph. Cal., Feb. ix. 23. The hedgehog,… As shepherd-dog his haunt espies,… rolls up in a ball of spears.
b. The sting of a reptile or insect, esp. of a bee. Now Sussex dial.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 172. Nor yet he when [he] with his angry mouth Doth byte, such paines and torments bringeth As other Serpents … When with his teeth and speare he stingeth.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon., A iij b. The speere she hath is but little and not halfe so long as the other Bees. Ibid., A v b. Hir speere she [the bee] is very loth to vse, if by any other meanes she can shift hir enimy.
a. 1700. Ken, Edmund, Poet. Wks. 1721, II. 90. Into his tendrest Parts … the pertinacious Legion dart their spears.
1721. Bradley, Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat., 149. Our Gnat, which is of the unarmed Kind, having no Spear in its Mouth.
1875. Parish, Sussex Dial., Spear, the sting of a bee.
1889. E. Clayton, in Longman’s Mag., July, 269. The best thing … when you have taken ‘the spear’ out, is to rub the place with a leek.
7. A beam or ray of light.
c. 1850. Lowell, Above & Below, I. iii. ’Tis from these heights alone your eyes The advancing spears of day can see.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, 277. A spear of candle-light shot from her door.
II. attrib. and Comb.
8. Simple attrib., in the sense ‘of or belonging to a spear,’ as spear-blade, † -block, -butt, † -pile (= shaft), etc.; also denoting distance or measurement, as spear-cast, -length, -throw; and miscellaneous, as spear-arm, -storm, -stroke, thrust.
1880. Browning, Dram. Idyls, Echetlos, 5. Up, back, out, down—was the *spear-arm play.
1880. F. Witti, Diary, in J. Hatton, New Ceylon, iv. (1881), 99. To the one end of the blowpipe is always made fast a *spear-blade.
1543. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VIII. 223. For certane *speir blokis boucht … to his grace in Ayr,… xv li.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, I. vi. 73. An obedience which the Roman soldiers could only have compelled by hard blows of the *spear-butt.
1865. Morris, Jason, X. 209. As in the stream they lay A *spear-cast from the shore.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2316. He sprit forth spenne fote more þen a *spere lenþe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3698. Hit spirit vp spitiously fyue speire lenght.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. viii. 9. The ditch … was only seuen fadomes broade, and twoo speare lengths deep.
1890. Conan Doyle, White Company, xxxvi. He fell within a spear-length of the English line.
1638. Brathwait, Psalmes Paraphr. cli. 297. Six hundred iron shekels masse, upon my *speare-pile playes.
1848. Lytton, K. Arthur, III. xlviii. May Harold, thus confronting all, Pass from the *spear-storm to the Golden Hall.
1835. Court Mag., VI. 35/2. The captive English,… awaiting the *spear-stroke with unblenching fortitude.
1884. J. Colborne, Hicks Pasha, 46. Their many-coloured *spear-tassels dropping on their shoulders.
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, 28. The men were running … with the length of a *spear-throw between them.
1825. Scott, Talism., xxvi. With sword-cut and *spear-thrust all hack’d and pierced through.
1857. Gosse, Omphalos, xii. 362. It falls to the ground before the *spear-touch of our Ithuriel.
1895. Cath. Mag., Aug., 210. The *spear-wound in His side.
9. General combs. a. With agent-nouns, as spear-bearer, -hurler, planer.
1449. in Sharp, Cov. Myst. (1825), 193. Item, ij sperberrers … ij d.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B., 10. Tankarde berers,… and spere planers.
1876. G. W. Cox, Gen. Hist. Greece, II. i. 103. His spear-bearer Gyges.
1895. Jane Menzies, Cynewulf’s Elene, 25. The great spear-hurler, who the hosts to battle led.
b. With verbal sbs. (objective or instrumental), as spear-bearing, -breaking, -fishing, -pricking, etc.
1861. Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Pers., 149, note. Archers, or Persians, are again opposed to *spear-bearing Greeks.
1848. Buckley, Iliad, 265. *Spear-brandishing Polydamas came as an avenger.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxvi. I should otherwise have had *spear-breaking between you and my cousin of Orleans.
1601. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 392/2. Lie cobill, curroch et *speir fischingis super aqua de Spey.
1895. Sir H. Maxwell, Duke of Britain, viii. 117. Forced by heavy blows and *spear-prickings to resume progress.
1865. Morris, Jason, VI. 485. *Spear-shaking warrior and slim-ankled maid.
1895. K. Grahame, Golden Age, 98. His *spear-splintering crash of tourney.
1828. P. Cunningham, N. S. Wales (ed. 3), II. 41. By means of their perpetual wars and the practices of *spear-throwing, child-murder, and concubinage, they keep down population.
1848. Buckley, Iliad, 26. *Spear-wielding auxiliaries from many cities.
c. With past pples. (instrumental), as spear-bound, -fallen, -famed, -pierced, etc.
1816. H. G. Knight, Ilderim, 280. The *spear-bound steeds that ready harness’d fed.
1824. J. Symmons, trans. Æschylus’ Agamemnon, 103–4.
| The blood-drop changed to saffron hue; | |
| Which from the *spear-fallen man | |
| Drips apace upon the ground. |
1848. Buckley, Iliad, 42. These, *spear-famed Idomeneus commanded.
1863. J. H. Newman, Verses Var. Occas., 33. Faint shadows of the *spear-pierced side.
1848. Buckley, Iliad, 43. He killed Mynetes and *spear-skilled Epistrophus.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 364. In forefront of battle let him fall; Or … on some foeman’s *spear-swept wall.
d. With adjs., as spear-headed, -pointed, etc.
1561. Burning St. Paul’s, ¶ 2 (Camden). A long and a speare pointed flame of fier.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, II. i. 20. A speare-headed staffe, sharpe pointed with iron.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl. s.v. Phaseolus, The American phaseolus, with a sinuated and spear-pointed leaf.
1777. Potter, Æschylus (1779), I. 184. Sev’n chiefs of high command, in arms spear-proof, take their appointed stand.
1846. Landor, Exam. Shaks., Wks. II. 295. Rushes spear high.
1873. Spon, Workshop Rec., Ser. I. 59/2. No spear-pointed drill can be tempered hard enough not to break.
e. In some specific names, as spear-bill, -billed (grebe), spear-leaf, -nosed (bat).
1827. Griffith, trans. Cuvier, II. 9. We may here add the Lunette,… spear-nosed bat. Ibid., V. 69. Phyllostoma Hastatum (Spear-leaf Phyllostome, or Javelin Bat).
1884. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 793. Æchmophorus, Spear-bill [Index, Spear-billed] Grebes.
10. Special combinations, as spear-axe, a spear with an axe-shaped head; † spear-egg-shaped a., Bot. lanceolate-obovate; † spear-field, the field of battle; † spear-foot (see quot.); spear-hand, the hand with which a spear is usually held, thrown, etc.; the right hand or side; spear-hook, U.S. a kind of snap-hook or spring-hook for taking fish (Cent. Dict.); spear-nail (see quot.); spear-play, exercise or fighting with spears; spear-pyrites, Min. a variety of marcasite or white iron pyrites; spear-running, jousting with spears; now arch.; spear-side (after OE. on spere-healfe), the male line of descent; † spear silver, Sc. a form of military tax or levy; † spear-stick, a spiked walking-stick; spear-thrower, an implement used to aid the throwing of a spear.
1865. J. H. Ingraham, Pillar of Fire, xi. 129. The offensive weapons of the [Egyptian] army are the … *spear-axe [etc.].
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), I. 82. *Spear egg-shaped,… shaped like a spear towards the base, and like an egg towards its extremity. Ibid., II. 474. Flower-scales spear-eggshaped, in pairs.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 1238. To speid thame our the *spere-feild enspringing thai sprent.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., *Spear-foot, of a horse, is the far-foot behind.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Hand, *Spear-Hand, or Sword-Hand, is used for a Horseman’s Right-Hand.
1824. J. Symmons, trans. Æschylus’ Agamemnon, 12.
| Seen beside the palace gate, | |
| On the spear-hand, and by the seat of state. |
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2255/2. *Spear-nail, one with a spear-shaped point.
c. 1640. J. Smyth, Lives Berkeleys (1883), I. 325. Given to his Esquiers for to play at *Spearplay at Bristoll, 26s 8d.
1885. C. J. Lyall, Anc. Arab. Poet., 96. Steeds, in the spear-play skilled.
1894. Geogr. Jrnl., III. 479. I had the pleasure of witnessing a spear-play between two parties.
1837. Dana, Min., 405. White Iron Pyrites, Pyrites rhombicus.… *Spear Pyrites.
1865. Watts, Dict. Chem., III. 402. White Iron pyrites, Marcasite, Radiated pyrites, Spear pyrites.
c. 1550. Rolland, Crt. Venus, IV. 597. Than tuik thay in Iurnayis of Tornament, And *speir rinning, with mony Interpryis.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xiv. At the spear-running of Strasbourg.
1861. Pearson, Early & Mid. Ages, 122. In his [Alfred’s] will he declares his intention of … leaving his land on the *spear-side.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind., 246. Such and such qualities he got from a grandfather on the spear side.
1496. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 324. To gadir in the *spere siluer of Perth, Forfare, and Striuelinschire.
1801. trans. Gabrielli’s Myst. Husb., II. 135. His *spear stick, pelisse, &c. were at the Curate’s.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. 60. The highest people known to have used the *spear-thrower proper are the Aztecs.
b. In the names of plants, trees, etc., as spear-arum, † crowfoot, -fern, -flower, -lily, -(plume) thistle, -wood (see quots.).
1845–50. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., App. 220/1. *Spear arum, Rensselaeria.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. ccclv. 815. Called … in English *Speare Crowfoote, Spearewoort, and Banewoort.
1867. W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 37. The Odontopteris, or tooth-fern, and Lonchopteris, or *spear-fern, are [fossil] genera which occur less frequently.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Spear-flower, a tree or shrub of the large tropical and subtropical genus Ardisia of the Myrsincæ.
1889. Maiden, Usef. Native Pl., 621. Doryanthes excelsa.… *‘Spear Lily.’ ‘Giant Lily.’
1855. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., III. 231. (*Spear Plume Thistle.) Heads of flowers large, mostly solitary.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Thistle, The broad-leaved *spear-Thistle.
1777. Jacob, Cat. Plants, 19. Carduus lanceolatus, Spear-Thistle.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 1066. The biennial spear-thistle, Cnicus lanceolatus, the spines of which breaking in the flesh, give acute pain when touched.
1872. Macmillan, True Vine, vii. 320. In the common spear-thistle, each plant produces upwards of a hundred seed-vessels.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1077/2. *Spearwood, Acacia doratoxylon. Ibid. (1874), Suppl. 1343/2. Spearwood, also Eucalyptus doratoxylon.
c. In the names of fishes, as spear-beak, dog, -fish (see quots.).
1896. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., V. 507. The extinct Jurassic *spear-beaks (Aspidorhynchus) constitute a second family.
1848. Zoologist, VI. 1975. Picked Dog, *Spear Dog, Spinax acanthias.
1882. Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fishes N. Amer., 119. C[arpiodes] cyprinus.… Quillback; *Spear-fish; Sail-fish; Skimback. Ibid., 420. T[etrapturus] albidus.… Bill-fish; Spear-fish.
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 241. In Cuba, the Spear-fishes are called ‘Aguja.’
