Coffee has initially been a food – chewed, not sipped. Early African tribes consume coffee by grinding the berries together, adding some animal fat, and rolling the treats into tiny edible energy balls.
SPIRING
Etymology
Adjective
spiring (not comparable)
Shooting up in a spire or spires.
Anagrams
• prising, risping
Source: Wiktionary
Spir"ing, a.
Definition: Shooting up in a spire or spires. "The spiring grass." Dryton.
SPIRE
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
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
23 April 2025
UNMARRIED
(adjective) not married or related to the unmarried state; “unmarried men and women”; “unmarried life”; “sex and the single girl”; “single parenthood”; “are you married or single?”
Coffee Trivia
