Also 5–6 spyre, 6 spyer. [f. SPIRE sb.1 Cf. Norw. and Sw. spira, Du. spire, in sense 1.]
1. intr. Of seeds, grain, etc.: To send forth or develop shoots, esp. the first shoot or acrospire; to germinate, sprout. Also with out. Now rare or Obs. (Cf. SPEAR v.2)
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 158. Ben germée, [wel atome (? acome); v.r.] spired.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xliii. (Tollem. MS.). Many men hangen oynones and garlek in þe smoke ouer þe fyre,… for þey schulde nouȝt spire and growe. Ofte oynones and garlek spireþ, þouȝe þey þe nouȝt in erþe.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., III. 1034. Now curneles of mixe hit is to keste In molde in sum vessell, so fele attonys As wel may spire.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., III. xvii. in Ashm. (1652), 143. Then shall thy seeds both roote and spyre.
1577. Harrison, England, II. vi. 95 b/2. The workeman not suffring it [malting barley] … to take any heate, whereby the bud ende shoulde spire.
1679. Evelyn, Sylva (ed. 3), 8. If they [i.e., seeds] spire out before you sow them, be sure you commit them to the earth before the Sprout grows dry.
1728. Douglas, in Phil. Trans., XXXV. 569. As they [crocus roots] then begin to spire, and are ready to shew themselves above Ground.
1765. Museum Rust., III. 223. There is a sure disappointment in buying such grain, as the kerns will spire at different times.
transf. 1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 27. Thee Troian Cæsar shal spire fro this auncetrye regal.
† b. trans. To produce; to put forth. Obs. rare.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. v. 52. In … race Of woman kind it fairest flowre doth spire, And beareth fruit of honour and all chast desire. Ibid. (1591), Ruins Time, Ded. The seede of most entire loue…; which taking roote … would in their riper strength … [have] spired forth fruit of more perfection.
2. intr. Of plants, corn, etc.: To run up into a tall stem, stalk or spike; to grow upwards instead of developing laterally. Now dial.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxxvi. (Bodl. MS.). Ȝif þei beþ i-suffred in þe bigynnynge to growe to swiþe þan þei spireþ & sedeþ to sone & leseþ to sone here fairenes & grene coloure.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 469. Spyryn, as corne and oþer lyke, spico.
1530. Palsgr., 728. I spyer, as corne dothe whan it begynneth to waxe rype, je espie.
a. 1618. Sylvester, New Jerusalem, 31, Wks. (Grosart), II. 258. There, Mead and Field, spring, spire, and yeeld.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 163. As often as they spire, crop them.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Spire, to grow up into an Ear, as Corn does.
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Spire, to shoot up luxuriantly.
1841. Hartshorne, Salop. Ant., Gloss., Spire, to grow rapidly, shoot upwards quickly.
1894. Heslop, Northumbld. Gloss., s.v., A tree or plant which shoots out in length and not proportionately in breadth is said to spire.
3. To rise or shoot up into a spire or spire-shaped form; to rise or extend to a height in the manner of a spire; to mount or soar aloft. Also with up.
a. Of flames or fire.
1591. Spenser, Ruins Rome, 220. As ye see huge flames spred diuerslie, Gathered in one vp to the heauens to spyre.
1652. N. Culverwel, Lt. Nature, I. xviii. (1661), 163. The Candle of the Lord;… ’tis fain to spire up, and climbe up … in a Pyramidal form.
1816. J. Hodgson, in J. Raine, Mem. (1857), I. 181. The flame of its wick spired slightly into length.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 993. If the tip begins to spire, he drops down on one knee, and holding the candle near the pavement, gradually raises it up.
1867. G. Macdonald, Disciple, etc. 53. Each ripple waves a flickering fire…; They laugh and flash, and leap and spire.
b. Of edifices, rocks, etc.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 60. A square Minaret that spires into a Pyramid.
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. vii. 74. These rocks terminate in a vast number of ragged points, which spire up to a prodigious height.
1790. Pennant, London (1813), 581. They spire into very elegant pinnacles.
1818. Milman, Samor, 308. Sudden around ’gan spire the mountain tops.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 302. A city … Which Merlin’s hand … had touch’d, and everywhere … tipt with lessening peak And pinnacle, and had made it spire to heaven.
c. Of leaves, branches or trees.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 330. It will be convenient … to leave a leading Branch near the top to spire up and cover the wound.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 136. The leaves only grow at the Top longwise, pointed as those of the Flower-de-lis, spiring, and opposite one to the other.
1798. Coleridge, Picture, 115. The crowded firs Spire from thy shores, and stretch across thy bed.
1870. Baring-Gould, In Exitu Israel, I. i. 1. The upstart poplars whitening in the wind along the river course spire above these venerable trees [sc. oak].
d. In fig. use.
1672. Temple, Ess., Govt., Wks. 1720, I. 105. A Commonwealth, the more it takes in of the general Humour and Bent of the People, and the more it spires up to a Head by the Authority of some one Person.
1857. Emerson, Poems, Sphinx, xvi. Wks. (Bohn), I. 398. Uprose the merry Sphinx, And crouched no more in stone;… She spired into a yellow flame; She flowered in blossoms red.
4. trans. a. To build up in the form of a spire. b. To direct or point upwards. c. To pierce with a sharp and lofty peak.
1750. Wren, Parentalia, 307. The Ground-work being settled, they had nothing else to do but to spire all up as they could.
1839. Bailey, Festus, 53. Nay, I love Death. But Immortality, with finger spired, Points to a distant, giant world.
1874. Lanier, In Absence, iii. Poems (1892), 75. An Alp sublime … Spiring the worid’s prismatic atmosphere.
