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spur
has definitions from the fields of transportation,botany,zoology
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[ noun ] a verbalization that encourages you to attempt something
Examples "the ceaseless prodding got on his nerves" Used in print (Frank Getlein and Harold C. Gardiner, S.J., Movies,...)In the field of entertainment there is no spur to financial daring so effective as audience boredom , and the first decade of the new device was not over before audiences began staying away in large_numbers from the simple-minded , one minute shows . Related terms |
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[ verb ] incite or stimulate
Examples "The Academy was formed to spur research" Used in print (The Christian Science Monitor,...)A year ago the Negro_Radio_Association was formed to spur research which the 30 - odd member stations are sure will bring_in more business . (An Act for International Development, A Summary...)This includes foreseeing balance-of-payments crises , with adequate attention to reducing dependence on imports and adopting realistic exchange_rates to encourage infant industries and spur exports . |
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[ verb ] give heart or courage to
Synonyms Used in print ("Sports"...)But now , for_the_first_time since Lou_Gehrig ( with 47 home_runs ) spurred Ruth on in 1927 , two men playing for the same team have zeroed_in on 60 . (R. Leslie Gourse, With Gall and Honey....)They singsonged the portion at the teacher , who accompanied them in an off-key baritone and spurred them on with the stick . |
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[ noun ] (botany,zoology) tubular extension at the base of the corolla in some flowers
Used in print (Helen Hooven Santmyer, "There Were Fences"...)Pale yellow snapdragons that by pinching could be made to bite ; seed-pods of the balsams that snapped like fire-crackers at a touch ; red and yellow columbines whose round tipped spurs were picked_off and eaten for the honey in them ; morning-glory buds which could be so grasped and squeezed that they burst like a blown-up paper_bag ; bright flowers from the trumpet_vine that made `` gloves '' on the ends of ten waggling fingers . Related terms |
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[ noun ] any pointed projection
Synonyms Used in print (Stephen Longstreet, Eagles Where I Walk....)And all this too shall pass_away : it came to him out of some dim corner of memory from a church_service when he was a boy - yes , in a white church with a thin spur steeple in the patriarchal Hudson_Valley , where a feeling of plenitude was normal in those English Dutch manors with their well-fed squires . Related terms |
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[ noun ] a sharp prod fixed to a rider's heel and used to urge a horse onward
Synonyms Examples "cowboys know not to squat with their spurs on" Used in print (Peter Field, Rattlesnake Ridge....)Clapping spurs to the bronc he set_off at a sharp canter , with growing alarm . |
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[ verb ] goad with spurs, as of horses when riding
Used in print (David Stacton, The Judges of the Secret Court....)He unhitched his horse , walked it away , mounted , and spurred it on . Related terms |
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[ noun ] (transportation) a railway line connected to a trunk line
Synonyms Used in print (Robert A. Futterman, The Future of Our Cities....)But anybody who promises a substantial volume of business can get a railroad to run a short spur to his plant these days , and many businesses can live without the railroad . |
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