spur

Definition

A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.

Etymology

From Middle English spure, spore, from Old English spora, spura, from Proto-West Germanic *spurō, from Proto-Germanic *spurô, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH- (“to kick”).

Example Sentences

• "Lives he, good uncle? thrice within this hour I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting; From helmet to the spur all blood he was."
• "Tvvo ſorts of ſpurs ſeem to have been in uſe about the time of the Conqueſt, one called a pryck, having only a ſingle point like the gaffle of a fighting cock; the other conſiſting of a number of points of a conſiderable length, radiating from and revolving on a center, thence named the rouelle or vvheel ſpur."
• "I had hardly said the word, when Kit jumped into the saddle, and gave his horse a whip and a spur — and off it cantered, as if it were in as great a hurry to be married as Kit himself."