Spear (?), n. [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. [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).