SPUR, n.

1. An instrument having a rowel or little wheel with sharp points, worn on horsemen's heels, to prick the horses for hastening their pace. Girt with rusty sword and spur. – Hudibras. Hence, to set spurs to a horse, is to prick him and put him upon a run.
2. Incitement; instigation. The love of glory is the spur to heroic deeds.
3. The largest or principal root of a tree; hence perhaps, the short wooden buttress of a post; [that is, in both cases, a shoot.]
4. The hard pointed projection on a cock's leg, which server as an instrument of defense and annoyance. – Ray.
5. Something that projects; a snag. – Shak.
6. In America, a mountain that shoots from any other mountain or range of mountains, and extends to some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.
7. That which excites. We say, upon the spur of the occasion; that is, the circumstances or emergency which calls for immediate action.
8. A sea swallow. – Ray.
9. The hinder part of the nectary in certain flowers, shaped like a cock's spur. – Martyn.
10. A fungus [Spermœdia Clavus,] growing within the glumes of rye, wheat, couch-grass, herd's-grass, lie. [Fr. ergot.]
11. In old fortifications, a wall that crosses a part of the rampart and joins to the town wall.

1. To travel with great expedition. The Parthians shall be there, / And spurring from the fight, confess their fear. [Unusual.] – Dryden.
2. To press forward. Some bold men … by spurring on, refine themselves. – Grew.

1. To prick with spurs; to incite to a more hasty pace; as to spur a horse.
2. To incite; to instigate; to urge or encourage to action, or to promote vigorous pursuit of an object. Some men are spurred to action by the love of glory, others by the love is power. Let affection spur us to social and domestic duties. – Locke.
3. To impel; to drive. Love wilt not be spurr'd to what it lothes. – Shak.
4. To put spurs on. Spurs of the beams, in a ship, are curving timbers, serving as half beams to support the deck, where whole beams can not be used.

1. A sparrow.
   
   
   [Scot.] (b)
2. An implement secured to the heel, or above the heel, of a horseman, to urge the horse by its pressure. Modern spurs have a small wheel, or rowel, with short points. Spurs were the badge of knighthood.
   
   

   And on her feet a pair of spurs large. Chaucer.

3. To prick with spurs] to incite to a more hasty pace; to urge or goad; as, to spur a horse.
4. To spur on one' horse; to travel with great expedition; to hasten; hence, to press forward in any pursuit.
   
   
   "Now spurs the lated traveler." Shak.

   The Parthians shall be there,
   And, spurring from the fight, confess their fear. Dryden.

   The roads leading to the capital were covered with multitudes of yeomen, spurring hard to Westminster. Macaulay.

   Some bold men, . . . by spurring on, refine themselves. Grew.

5. A branch of a vein.
6. That which goads to action; an incitement.
   
   

   Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
   (That last infirmity of noble mind)
   To scorn delights and live laborious days. Milton.

7. To urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object; to incite; to stimulate; to instigate; to impel; to drive.
   
   

   Love will not be spurred to what it loathes. Shak.

8. The track of an animal, as an otter; a spoor.
9. Something that projects; a snag.
10. To put spurs on; as, a spurred boot.
11. One of the large or principal roots of a tree.
    
    
    Shak.
12. Any stiff, sharp spine, as on the wings and legs of certain burds, on the legs of insects, etc.; especially, the spine on a cock's leg.
13. A mountain that shoots from any other mountain, or range of mountains, and extends to some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.
14. A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale, to strip off the blubber.
15. A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.
16. The short wooden buttress of a post.
    
    
    (b)
17. Any projecting appendage of a flower looking like a spur.
    
    
    Gray. (b)
18. A wall that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.
19. A piece of timber fixed on the bilge ways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.
    
    
    (b)