2026

Spire

//spaɪə//

Definitions

1
The stalk or stem of a plant.
2
A young shoot of a plant; a spear.
Clara had pulled a button from a hollyhock spire, and was breaking it to get the seeds.
3
One of the sinuous foldings of a serpent or other reptile; a coil.
A dragon's fiery form bely'd the god: Sublime on radiant spires he rode.

1
to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate.
In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race / Of woman kind it fayrest Flowre doth spyre, / And beareth fruit of honour and all chast desyre.
2
To grow upwards rather than develop horizontally.

Word Origin

From Middle English spire, spyre, spier, spir, from Old English spīr, from Proto-Germanic *spīrō, *spīrǭ (“peak; point; tip; stalk”). Cognate with Dutch spier, German Low German Spier, German Spier, S...

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