What is "spear"

Spear \Spear\, n. [OE. spere, AS. spere; akin to D. & G. speer, OS. & OHS. sper, Icel. spj["o]r, pl., Dan. sp[ae]r, 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.)

   1. The common reed. See Reed, n., 1.

   2. 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 \Spear\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Speared; p. pr. & vb. n. Spearing.] To pierce with a spear; to kill with a spear; as, to spear a fish.

Spear \Spear\, v. i. To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire.
--Mortimer.

"weapon with a penetrating head and a long wooden shaft, meant to be thrust or thrown," Old English spere "spear, javelin, lance," from Proto-Germanic *speri (cognates: Old Norse spjör, Old Saxon, Old Frisian sper, Dutch speer, Old High German sper, German Speer "spear"), from PIE root *sper- (1) "spear, pole" (cognates: Old Norse sparri "spar, rafter," and perhaps also Latin sparus "hunting spear").

"sprout of a plant," 1640s, earlier "church spire" (c.1500); variant of spire (n.).

1755, from spear (n.1). Related: Speared; spearing.

n. 1 A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion. 2 (context now chiefly historical English) A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman. 3 A sharp tool used by fishermen to retrieve fish. 4 (context ice hockey English) an illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player. 5 (context wrestling English) a running tackle on an opponent performed in professional wrestling. 6 A spearman. 7 A shoot, as of grass; a spire. 8 The feather of a horse. 9 The rod to which the bucket, or plunger, of a pump is attached; a pump rod. 10 A long, thin strip from a vegetable. vb. 1 To penetrate or strike with, or as if with, any long narrow object. To make a thrusting motion that catches an object on the tip of a long device. 2 (context intransitive English) To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do.

1. n. a long pointed rod used as a weapon [syn: lance, shaft]

2. an implement with a shaft and barbed point used for catching fish [syn: gig, fizgig, fishgig, lance]

1. v. pierce with a spear; "spear fish"

2. thrust up like a spear; "The branch speared up into the air" [syn: spear up]

Spear is a 2015 Australian drama film directed by Stephen Page. It was screened in the Discovery section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. Originally performed by the Bangarra Dance Theatre in 2000, it has been reimagined for film using mostly dance and movement.

SPEAR (originally Stanford Positron Electron Asymmetric Rings, now simply a name) was a collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. It began running in 1972, colliding electrons and positrons with an energy of . During the 1970s, experiments at the accelerator played a key role in particle physics research, including the discovery of the meson (awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in physics), many charmonium states, and the discovery of the tau (awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in physics).

Today, SPEAR is used as a synchrotron radiation source for the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). The latest major upgrade of the ring in that finished in 2004 rendered it the current name SPEAR3.

A spear is a pole weapon used for hunting and combat.

Spear may also refer to:

• Spear (surname)
• Spear Lancaster, 2002 candidate for Governor of Maryland
• Spear (film), a 2015 Australian film
• Spear (liturgy), used in the Byzantine-Rite Churches
• SAS Spear, the first submarine of the South African Navy
• Cape Spear, in Newfoundland, Canada
• Operation Spear (2005), US military action in Iraq
• Spear Lúin, Irish mythological treasure
• Spear tackle, head-first thrust into the ground
• Spear (Pokémon), the Japanese name for Beedrill, a Pokémon character
• slang for nuclear weapons
• Spear (wrestling), a professional wrestling attack
• Singapore Prisons Emergency Action Response, a department within the Singapore Prison Service
• Stanford Positron Electron Asymmetric Ring, an electron-positron collider now part of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource facility
• Selective Precision Effects At Range Royal Air Force term for a set of guided weapons such as Paveway IV (SPEAR 1), Brimstone 2 (SPEAR 2), the SPEAR 3, 4, and 5 missile family.
• Spear side, the male line of a family.

The Spear (Greek: λόγχη; Slavonic: Копіе́) or Lance is a liturgical implement used during the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches.

The Spear symbolizes the lance of Longinus that was used at the time of Christ's death on the Cross to pierce his side, from which flowed blood and water . This event is traditionally interpreted as prefiguring the Sacred Mysteries ( Sacraments) of the Eucharist and Baptism.

The Spear is one of the Sacred Vessels usually kept on the Table of Oblation (Prothesis), where the bread and wine are prepared for the Eucharist. Often when a Chalice and Diskos (Paten) are made, an Asterisk and a Spoon and Spear will be made to match them. The Spear is normally made of precious metal (or at least plated with silver and/or gold), has a point sharp enough to cut the bread, and will often have a cross at the end of the handle.

The Spear is used during the Liturgy of Preparation when the priest cuts the Lamb (Host) out of the Prosphoron (loaf of leavened bread) which will be consecrated to become the Body of Christ. The Spear is also used before Holy Communion to cut the Lamb into pieces for the clergy and faithful to communicate from.

In the Euchologion there is also a special Prayer of the Spear which may be said by the priest when one is sick.

The Spear, being a sanctified object, may not be used for any purpose than the litugical uses for which it is appointed.

Category:Eastern Christian liturgy Category:Eastern Christian liturgical objects

Spear is the name of a supervillain in Marvel Comics.

Spear is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Albert Spear (1852–1929), justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and President of the Maine Senate
• Allan Spear (1937–2008), American politician and educator from Minnesota
• Bernard Spear (1919–2003), English actor
• Bob Spear (1920–2014), founding director of the Birds of Vermont Museum, a longtime naturalist, birdwatcher and master woodcarver
• Burning Spear (born 1945), Jamaican roots rock reggae artist
• Duston Spear, native of Virginia, is an artist and activist residing in New York City
• Ellis Spear (1834–1917), officer in the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment who rose to the rank of general during the American Civil War
• Eric Spear (1908–1966), English composer of film music
• Frank Spear (born 1953), Founder and Director of Spear Education
• Harry Spear (1921–2006), US child actor
• John Murray Spear (1804–1887), Spiritualist preacher
• John Spear (1848–1921), British Liberal Unionist politician
• Joseph Spear (d. 1837), British naval officer
• Laurinda Hope Spear (born 1950), American architect and landscape architect
• Lawrence York Spear (1870–1950), American naval officer and businessman
• Mary Spear (1913–2006), English cricketer
• Matt Spear (born 1970), American soccer coach
• Mónica Spear (1984–2014), Miss Venezuela 2004
• Percival Spear (1901–1982), English historian
• Richard E. Spear (born 1940), American art historian and professor
• Roberta Spear (1948–2003), American poet
• Roger Ruskin Spear (born 1943), founding member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
• Ruskin Spear (1911–1990), British artist
• Samuel P. Spear (1815–1875), American soldier in the Seminole, Mexican–American War, and American Civil Wars
• Terry Spear, award-winning American author
• Timothy L. Spear, Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly
• Tony Spear, American space exploration project manager
• Walter Eric Spear (1921–2008), German physicist
• William T. Spear (1834–1913), U.S. Republican politician