spear: [OE] Spear is a general Germanic word, with relatives in German and Dutch speer (the Scandinavian forms have died out). Its ultimate ancestry is uncertain, although it may have distant links with English spar and Latin sparus ‘hunting spear’.
spear (n.1)
"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 spj?r, 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").
spear (n.2)
"sprout of a plant," 1640s, earlier "church spire" (c. 1500); variant of spire (n.).
spear (v.)
1755, from spear (n.1). Related: Speared; spearing.
雙語例句
1. Mr. Dambar had started off as an assistant to Mrs. Spear's husband.