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]