Also 9 spore. [a. Du. spoor (in South African use), repr. MDu. spoor, spor, = OE., MLG., OHG. and MHG., ON. spor (ME. -spore, -spurre, WFlem. speur, WFris. spoar, G. dial. spor, Da., Norw., Icel. spor, Sw. spår), related to MHG. spür(e, spur, G. spur. The stem is also represented in OE. spyrian SPEER v.1]
1. The trace, track, or trail of a person or animal, esp. of wild animals pursued as game.
α. 1823. in Pringle, Eng. Settlers Albany, S. Afr. (1824), 84. Soon afterwards the spoor (foot-prints) of three Caffers was discovered, and of course we then knew where they went.
1849. E. E. Napier, Excurs. S. Africa, I. 197. Following the ‘spoor,’ or tracking the footmarks of man, or beast, is considered quite a science amongst the border Colonists.
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., xii. At one stream the fresh spoor of a troop of lions was deeply imprinted in the wet sand.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, 103. I rode on ahead, following the spoor of other horses.
1880. R. S. Watson, Visit to Wazan, vii. 120. We several times passed the recent spoor of wild boars.
β. 1852. Thoreau, Lett. (1865), 66. The vast valley-like ‘spore’ … of some celestial beast.
b. transf. and fig.
1865. [W. F. Campbell], Short Amer. Tramp, 5. Icebergs were seen, and a spoor was followed to St. Louis, on the Mississippi. Ibid., 84. Surely the spoor of the Arctic Current was under foot.
1870. Huxley, Lay Serm., ix. (1874), 179. It is the spoor of the game we are tracking.
1873. J. Geikie, Gt. Ice Age, vi. 78. When we … follow the spoor of those [glaciers] that crept down from the Southern Uplands.
c. collect. (without article).
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., xxi. I walked to the fountain to seek for elephants’ spoor.
1873. Routledge’s Yng. Gentl. Mag., May, 351. I left my skärm and looked for spoor.
1879. Atcherley, Trip Boërland, 153. They had discovered a water-hole, surrounded with numerous spoor.
2. The track of a vehicle.
Cf. ME. cart-spore, -spurre, and whele-spore.
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr., xiii. Eventually … we discovered the spoor of the waggons.
1861. C. J. Andersson, Okavango River, iv. 46. During the first day’s march … we followed the spoor of our waggon.
