spear
part of speech
noun (a spear, spears); verb (spear, spears, speared, spearing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A long weapon or tool with a pointed tip, used for throwing or stabbing, especially for hunting or fishing. tree →
2) A long thin pointed shoot of a plant, such as a spear of asparagus. tree →
3) To push something pointed into something, such as spearing food with a fork. tree →
4) To catch or hunt with a spear. tree →
sense in the lessons
In history lessons, early humans and many peoples hunted and fished with spears. In everyday life «to spear a chip with your fork» means to stab food to pick it up. In cooking, asparagus comes in spears. Phrases: «throw a spear», «spear fishing», «asparagus spears», «spear a piece».
examples
- The hunters made spears from wood and sharp stones. tree →
- He threw the spear as far as he could. tree →
- She speared a sausage with her fork. tree →
- We had asparagus spears with dinner. tree →
- Some people go spear fishing near the reef. tree →
- The warrior's spear had a bronze tip. tree →
- The heron speared a fish with its sharp beak. tree →
- In the museum we saw a spear used thousands of years ago. tree →
- They snatched spears and shields from their foes. tree →
note
Plural «spears». «Spear» rhymes with «near». A javelin is a light spear thrown in sport. Do not confuse «spear» with «sphere» (a ball shape). Sharp sticks and spears are dangerous; only use them with an adult.
In the corpora
- He nods hard, but he is sure it means the great Chief is surrounded by enemies with spears.
- There they find Taffy making daisy-chains and Tegumai happily spearing small carp with his mended spear.
- Taffy only wanted the spear, and in the end it is the one spear nobody brought.
- Tegumai to his Tribe: «Can't a man break his carp-spear without the whole countryside descending on him?
- Taffy: «There wasn't lots of spears.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «spear» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.