spire /ˈspaɪr/
 尖塔,尖頂,旋渦,螺旋(vi.)突出,聳立,螺旋形上升(vt.)給…加塔尖


 Spire, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Spired p. pr. & vb. n. Spiring.] To shoot forth, or up in, or as if in, a spire.
    It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms.   --Mortimer.


 Spire, n.
 1. A spiral; a curl; a whorl; a twist.
 2. Geom. The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole. See Spiral, n.
 Spire bearer. Paleon. Same as Spirifer.

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 Spire v. i.  To breathe. [Obs.]


 Spire, n.
 1. A slender stalk or blade in vegetation; as, a spire grass or of wheat.
    An oak cometh up a little spire.   --Chaucer.
 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.”
 A spire of land that stand apart,
 Cleft from the main.   --Tennyson.
 Tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells
 Just undulates upon the listening ear.   --Cowper.
 3. Mining A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the chargen in blasting.
 4. The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
    The spire and top of praises.   --Shak.


 spire
      n : 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]