Obs. Also 5–6 spyre. [ad. OF. spirer, espirer (= Sp. and Pg. espirar, It. spirare), or L. spīrāre to breathe.]
1. intr. or absol. To breathe; to blow gently; to come forth or out as breath. Also fig.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xliii. 17. In his wil shal spiren, or brethen, out the south.
a. 1395. Hylton, Scala Perf., II. xli. (MS. Bodl 592). Þe hooli goost spireþ where he wole & þou heerist his voice, but þou woost not fro whennes he comeþ or whidir he goiþ.
1525. Pilgr. Perf. (1531), 59 b. Let the swete odour of deuocyon and prayer spyre out and ascende vp to thy lorde and spouse.
1535. Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 24. Here may ye smel out of what stynkyng breste and poysoned virulent throte thys peivisshe Pystle spyrethe and breathed forthe.
2. trans. To breathe (air, etc.). Const. into.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. ii. 7. The Lord God thanne fourmede man of the slyme of the erthe, and spiride in to the face of hym an entre of breth of lijf.
3. To breathe forth or out, to create or produce by the agency of the breath.
Used in the pa. pple. of the Holy Spirit in relation to the other Persons of the Trinity.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love, 16. Þe sone is cald, be-caus of þe fadyr he is gottyn; þe holy goste, be-caus of both þe holy fader & holy sone he is spiryd.
1613. Day, Dyall, iii. (1614), He is tearmed a Spirit,… because he is spired or breathed from the Father and the Sonne.
1645. Ussher, Body Div. (1647), 86. He is spired, and as it were, breathed both from the Father and the Sonne.
b. To pour out by or as by breathing; to emit or give forth (odor).
1649. Lovelace, Poems, 77. The rosin-lightning [should] flash, and Monster spire Squibs, and words hotter then his fire.
1657. W. Morice, Coena quasi Κοινὴ, Def. xviii. 321. The leaves … gently toucht do spire forth an excellent odour.
