SPIRE

steeple, spire

(noun) a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building (usually a church or temple) and that tapers to a point at the top

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology 1

Noun

spire (plural spires)

(now rare) The stalk or stem of a plant. [from 10th c.]

A young shoot of a plant; a spear. [from 14th c.]

Any of various tall grasses, rushes, or sedges, such as the marram, the reed canary-grass, etc.

A sharp or tapering point. [from 16th c.]

A tapering structure built on a roof or tower, especially as one of the central architectural features of a church or cathedral roof. [from 16th c.]

The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit. [from 17th c.]

(mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the charge in blasting.

Verb

spire (third-person singular simple present spires, present participle spiring, simple past and past participle spired)

(of a seed, plant etc.) to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate. [from 14th c.]

To grow upwards rather than develop horizontally. [from 14th c.]

(transitive) To furnish with a spire.

Etymology 2

Verb

spire (third-person singular simple present spires, present participle spiring, simple past and past participle spired)

(intransitive, obsolete) To breathe. [14th-16th c.]

Etymology 3

Noun

spire (plural spires)

One of the sinuous foldings of a serpent or other reptile; a coil. [from 16th c.]

A spiral. [from 17th c.]

(geometry) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole.

Anagrams

• Peris, Piers, Speir, Spier, peris, piers, pries, prise, resip, ripes, spier

Source: Wiktionary

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Spire, v. i. Etym: [L. spirare to breathe. See Spirit.]

Definition: To breathe. [Obs.] Shenstone.

Spire, n. Etym: [OE. spire, spir, a blade of grass, a young shoot, AS. spir; akin to G. spier a blade of grass, Dan. spire a sprout, sprig, Sw. spira a spar, Icel. spira.]

1. A slender stalk or blade in vegetation; as, a spire grass or of wheat. An oak cometh up a little spire. Chaucer.

2. A tapering body that shoots up or out to a point in a conical or pyramidal form. Specifically (Arch.), the roof of a tower when of a pyramidal form and high in proportion to its width; also, the pyramidal or aspiring termination of a tower which can not be said to have a roof, such as that of Strasburg cathedral; the tapering part of a steeple, or the steeple itself. "With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned." Milton. A spire of land that stand apart, Cleft from the main. Tennyson. Tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells Just undulates upon the listening ear. Cowper.

3. (Mining)

Definition: A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the chargen in blasting.

4. The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit. The spire and top of praises. Shak.

Spire, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Spired; p. pr. & vb. n. Spiring.]

Definition: To shoot forth, or up in, or as if in, a spire. Emerson. It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms. Mortimer.

Spire, n. Etym: [L. spira coil, twist; akin to Gr. spire.]

1. A spiral; a curl; a whorl; a twist. Dryden.

2. (Geom.)

Definition: The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole. See Spiral, n. Spire bearer. (Paleon.) Same as Spirifer.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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