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to spear

to spear

8 4.9
To pierce something with a long sharp point like a stick or fork
  • verb
  • /spɪr/
translation icon : atravesar
  • Spearing a leaping salmon.
  • spearing fish

There is some place where you can, you know, spear the beast.

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Examples

  • Because he almost speared me in the face with it.

  • It brings 'em to the top where I can spear them."

  • Now, if you see one, you spear 'em right through the middle, all right?

  • There is some place where you can, you know, spear the beast.

  • She hollered out just when I was about to spear me a fish, a big fish.

  • They roar to call the lions, then they spear them.

  • I've eaten the big fish they spear out of the Silver River and smoke over alder fires.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Back then we would spear grouper, snapper, hogfish.

  • With the steak knife, he spears a strip of meat and lifts it from the sputtering grease.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Using a sharp spear, he carefully speared the fish swimming by.

Synonyms

to impale
vsto spear
  • Offensive
26 7.7

Push a sharp object through a person or animal

is specifically about piercing or killing with a long pointed pole weapon
to spike
vsto spear
  • NSFW
17 3.7

To push a sharp point through something to hold it

focuses on piercing or killing with a long pointed pole rather than fastening
to knife
vsto spear
  • NSFW
15 7.1

To cut or hurt someone with a sharp blade

is about piercing or killing with a long pole weapon rather than short blade
to stake
vsto spear
  • Offensive
10 9.9

To kill a person by driving a sharp wooden post through the chest

is about piercing or killing generally, not only formal execution
to lance
vsto spear
5 7.0

Cut a skin sore to let out fluid

is mainly about stabbing or killing with a long pole rather than cutting
to dagger
vsto spear
  • NSFW
1 7.9

To stab someone with a short pointed knife

is about piercing or killing with a long pole weapon not a small blade
to speer
vsto spear
  • NSFW
9.9

To pierce someone or something with a pointed object

is the modern common form rather than the archaic Scots variant
to transfix
vsto spear
  • NSFW
7.9

Push a sharp stick through something to hold it in place

focuses on piercing or killing rather than holding something fixed on a point
to poignard
vsto spear
  • NSFW
9.9

To stab someone with a small pointed knife

is the general act with a long pole weapon rather than short blade use

Antonyms

1.0

To keep someone or something safe from harm

77 3.5

Decide not to hurt someone even though you could

Phrasal Verbs

To rise straight up like a long thin point

Compounds

A person who has a very small part in a play or film, often with no lines

1 5.1

A sharp metal or stone tip on a spear for piercing

A tool for throwing a spear or dart much farther than by hand

king's spear
  • Specialized
9.9

A garden plant with tall stems and spikes of fragrant yellow flowers

9.9

A very rude racist insult used against Black people

A tall thistle with large flower heads and sharp spines that grows wild as a weed

How Forceful

to impale
  • Offensive
26 7.7
to spear
8 4.9
to stab
  • NSFW
459 2.7
jab
16 3.0
poke
4 2.5

Surface Forms

spear infinitive
spearing present participle
spears third person singular
spared past
spared past participle

Etymology

Spear (verb) comes from the same idea of a long, pointed stick, so to spear something is to 'pierce' it as if with that stick.