In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
spearing
present participle of spear
spearing (plural spearings)
The stabbing of something with a spear.
• Pinegars, preasing, reapings
Source: Wiktionary
Spear, n. Etym: [OE. spere, AS. spere; akin to D. & G. speer, OS. & OHS. sper, Icel. spjör, pl., Dan. spær, L. sparus.]
1. A long, pointed weapon, used in war and hunting, by thrusting or throwing; a weapon with a long shaft and a sharp head or blade; a lance.
Note: [See Illust. of Spearhead.] "A sharp ground spear." Chaucer. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Micah iv. 3.
2. Fig.: A spearman. Sir W. Scott.
3. A sharp-pointed instrument with barbs, used for stabbing fish and other animals.
4. A shoot, as of grass; a spire.
5. The feather of a horse. See Feather, n., 4.
6. The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod. Spear foot, the off hind foot of a horse.
– Spear grass. (Bot.) (a) The common reed. See Reed, n., 1. (b) meadow grass. See under Meadow.
– Spear hand, the hand in which a horseman holds a spear; the right hand. Crabb.
– Spear side, the male line of a family. Lowell.
– Spear thistle (Bot.), the common thistle (Cnicus lanceolatus).
Spear, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Speared; p. pr. & vb. n. Spearing.]
Definition: To pierce with a spear; to kill with a spear; as, to spear a fish.
Spear, v. i.
Definition: To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire. Mortimer.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 April 2025
(adjective) made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow; “bright silver candlesticks”; “a burnished brass knocker”; “she brushed her hair until it fell in lustrous auburn waves”; “rows of shining glasses”; “shiny black patents”
In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.