spur

 
Pronunciation: /spəː/

noun

  • 1a device with a small spike or a spiked wheel that is worn on a rider’s heel and used for urging a horse forward.
  • a horny spike on the back of the leg of a cock or male game bird, used in fighting.
  • a steel point fastened to the leg of a gamecock.
  • Medicine a short pointed growth or process on a part of the body.
  • 2a thing that prompts or encourages someone; an incentive: wars act as a spur to practical invention
  • 3a thing that projects or branches off from a main body, in particular:
  • a projection from a mountain or mountain range: it’s an easy walk up the spur that leads to the summit
  • a short branch road or railway line.
  • Botany a slender tubular projection from the base of a flower, e.g. a honeysuckle or orchid, typically containing nectar.
  • a short fruit-bearing side shoot.
  • 4a small, single-pointed support for ceramic ware in a kiln.

verb (spurs, spurring, spurred)

[with object]
  • 1urge (a horse) forward by digging one’s spurs into its sides: she spurred her horse towards the hedge
  • give an incentive or encouragement to (someone): her sons' passion for computer games spurred her on to set up a software shop
  • promote the development of; stimulate: governments cut interest rates to spur demand
  • 2prune in (a side shoot of a plant) so as to form a spur close to the stem: spur back the lateral shoots

Phrases

on the spur of the moment

on impulse; without planning in advance: I don’t generally do things on the spur of the moment [as modifier]: a spur-of-the-moment decision

put (or set) spurs to

use one’s spurs to urge on (a horse).

Derivatives

spurless

adjective

spurred

adjective

Origin:

Old English spora, spura, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch spoor and German Sporn, also to spurn