See Also: Spire(medicine)
spire(1)(dictionary)
spire(2)(dictionary)
spire(3)(dictionary)
spire(4)(dictionary)
spire(5)(dictionary)
spire(encyclopedia)
spire(dictionary)

spire(1) (iou)



spire noun1.
[Old English spir = Middle Low German, Middle Dutch spier, spir, Middle High German spir (German Spier tip of blade of grass). Cf. SPEAR noun2, SPEER noun2.]
a. A stalk or stem of a plant, esp. a tall and slender one. Now rare. OE.
b. The tapering top of a tree; the continuation of a tree-trunk above the point where branching begins. M17.
c. A long flower-spike. M19.
A reed or reedlike plant; collect. reeds. Cf. SPEAR noun2 3. Now dial. ME.
A young or tender shoot or sprout; spec. = SPEAR noun2 2a. ME.
b. A blade of grass. Now rare. M17.
A conical, tapering, or pointed object. Now chiefly fig. of sense 5 below. LME.
Shelley Icicles..their white and glittering spires. Tennyson Crags that wall the dell With spires of silver shine.
A tall conical or pyramid-shaped structure built on the roof or tower of a building, esp. a church. Cf. SPEAR noun2 1. M16.
A. Burgess You could just see the church spire..on the..horizon.
b. fig. The highest point of something. E17.
Comb.: spire-grass (now dial.) any of various reeds or sedges; spire-shell any of various marine or freshwater snails of the superfamily Rissoacea, which have long conical spiral shells; spire-steeple: surmounted by a spire.
spireless adjective (of a building etc.) having no spire M19.
spirelet noun a small spire, esp. one on a tower M19.