1.
[syn: steeple, spire]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Spire \Spire\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Spired; p. pr. & vb. n.
Spiring.]
To shoot forth, or up in, or as if in, a spire. --Emerson.
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It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being
more inclined to branch into arms. --Mortimer.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Spire \Spire\, v. i. [L. spirare to breathe. See Spirit.]
To breathe. [Obs.] --Shenstone.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Spire \Spire\, n. [L. spira coil, twist; akin to Gr. ???: cf. F.
spire.]
1. A spiral; a curl; a whorl; a twist. --Dryden.
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2. (Geom.) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution
of the straight line about the pole. See Spiral, n.
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Spire bearer. (Paleon.) Same as Spirifer.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Spire \Spire\, n. [OE. spire, spir, a blade of grass, a young
shoot, AS. sp[imac]r; akin to G. spier a blade of grass, Dan.
spire a sprout, sprig, Sw. spira a spar, Icel. sp[imac]ra.]
1. A slender stalk or blade in vegetation; as, a spire grass
or of wheat.
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An oak cometh up a little spire. --Chaucer.
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2. A tapering body that shoots up or out to a point in a
conical or pyramidal form. Specifically (Arch.), the roof
of a tower when of a pyramidal form and high in proportion
to its width; also, the pyramidal or aspiring termination
of a tower which can not be said to have a roof, such as
that of Strasburg cathedral; the tapering part of a
steeple, or the steeple itself. "With glistering spires
and pinnacles adorned." --Milton.
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A spire of land that stand apart,
Cleft from the main. --Tennyson.
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Tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells
Just undulates upon the listening ear. --Cowper.
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3. (Mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the
chargen in blasting.
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4. The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
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The spire and top of praises. --Shak.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
spire
n 1: a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
(usually a church or temple) and that tapers to a point at
the top [syn: steeple, spire]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
200 Moby Thesaurus words for "spire":
acme, antenna tower, anthrophore, apex, apogee, arise, ascend,
aspire, axis, barbican, become airborne, belfry, bell tower, blade,
bole, bract, bracteole, bractlet, brow, buss the clouds, campanile,
cane, cap, carpophore, caudex, caulicle, caulis, claw skyward,
climax, cloud nine, cog, colossus, column, comb, come up,
cotyledon, crag, crest, crown, culm, culmen, culmination, cupola,
curl upwards, derrick, dome, edge, extreme limit, extremity, fang,
fire tower, flag, float, floral leaf, fly, fly aloft, foliole,
footstalk, frond, funicule, funiculus, gain altitude, glume, go up,
grow up, hang, harrow, haulm, heaven, heavens, height, high noon,
highest pitch, highest point, hover, involucre, involucrum, jag,
kite, lamina, lantern, leaf, leaflet, leafstalk, leave the ground,
lemma, levitate, lighthouse, ligule, limit, loom, martello,
martello tower, mast, maximum, meridian, minaret, monument, mount,
mountaintop, ne plus ultra, needle, no place higher, noon, obelisk,
observation tower, pagoda, peak, pecten, pedicel, peduncle, petal,
petiole, petiolule, petiolus, pilaster, pile, pillar, pine needle,
pinnacle, pitch, plane, point, poise, pole, projection, pylon,
pyramid, rake, ratchet, rear, rear up, reed, ridge, rise, rise up,
sawtooth, seed leaf, seedstalk, sepal, seventh heaven, shaft, sky,
skyscraper, snag, snaggle, soar, spathe, spear, spiral, sprocket,
spur, stalk, stand on tiptoe, stand up, standpipe, steeple, stem,
stipe, stipula, stipule, stock, straw, stupa, summit, surge,
swarm up, sweep up, take off, television mast, tigella, tip,
tip-top, tooth, top, tope, tour, tower, trunk, turret, up, upgo,
upgrow, upheave, upmost, upper extremity, uppermost, uprise,
upspin, upstream, upsurge, upswarm, upwind, utmost, vertex,
very top, water tower, windmill tower, zenith, zoom