Definition of "spire"

spire¹

/spaɪə/

noun
plural spires
1. (now rare) The stalk or stem of a plant.
2. A young shoot of a plant; a spear.
  Quotations
  Clara had pulled a button from a hollyhock spire, and was breaking it to get the seeds.
  1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Chapter 12”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […]
3. Any of various tall grasses, rushes, or sedges, such as the marram, the reed canary-grass, etc.
4. A sharp or tapering point.
  Quotations
  A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.
  1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict‎
5. (architecture) A tapering structure built on a roof or tower, especially as one of the central architectural features of a church or cathedral roof.
6. The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
  Quotations
  the spire and top of praises
  c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ix]
7. (mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the charge in blasting.
verb
third-person singular simple present spires, present participle spiring, simple past and past participle spired
1. (of a seed, plant etc.) to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate.
  Quotations
  In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race / Of woman kind it fayrest Flowre doth spyre, / And beareth fruit of honour and all chast desyre.
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
  It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms.
  1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708
2. To grow upwards rather than develop horizontally.
3. (transitive) To furnish with a spire.

spire²

/spaɪə/

verb
third-person singular simple present spires, present participle spiring, simple past and past participle spired
1. (intransitive, obsolete) To breathe.

spire³

/spaɪə/

noun
plural spires
1. One of the sinuous foldings of a serpent or other reptile; a coil.
  Quotations
  A dragon's fiery form bely'd the god: Sublime on radiant spires he rode.
  1700, [John] Dryden, “Alexander’s Feast; or, The Power of Musique. An Ode, in Honour of St. Cecelia’s Day.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
2. A spiral.
3. (geometry) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole.

Definition of "spire"

spire1

noun

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verb

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spire2

verb

spire3

noun

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spire¹

spire²

spire³