spur(1) (iou) and skrite (medicine)

spur(1) (iou)

spur noun1.
[Old English spora, spura = Old Saxon, Old High German sporo (Dutch spoor, German Sporen, Sporn), Old Norse spori, from Germanic from Indo-European base also of SPURN verb. See also SPURN noun2.]
I.
A device for pricking the side of a horse in order to control it or urge it forward, consisting of a small (now usu. blunt) spike or spiked wheel on a U-shaped piece of metal which is attached by a strap to the counter of the rider's boot. OE.
Shakespeare Winter's Tale You may ride's With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere With spur we heat an acre. J. Dos Passos General Miles..dug in his spurs in an endeavor to control the horse.
b. Heraldry. A charge representing a spur. L17.
fig. A stimulus, an incentive, an incitement, a goad. (Foll. by of a particular influence etc., to a person, course of action, etc.) M16.
A. Bevan Fear of unemployment was the spur which compelled the worker to do his best. A. Storr A good deal of the world's great literature..has been produced under the spur of economic necessity.
II.
A short strut or stay set diagonally to support an upright timber; a piece of timber acting as a bracket; a sloping buttress. LME.
b. A small support for ceramic ware during firing. M19.
a. Zoology. A sharp hard claw present on the back of the foot or lower (usu. hind) leg of a bird or animal, esp. as a weapon in the male. LME.
A. Newton Snow-partridges are generally furnished with strong but blunt spurs.
b. Anatomy, Medicine, & Zoology. A short, somewhat pointed process or growth on a part of the body. L17.
F. Smyth The laminal spurs on the thoracic vertebrae..were very small.
a. Fortification. An angular projection from the face of a defensive wall. L16-E18.
b. An artificial projection from a bridge or river-bank, serving to deflect the current. M18.
Each of the main roots of a tree. Cf. SPURN noun2 2. Long obsolete exc. dial. E17.
a. Hist. A sharp-pointed projection from the prow of a warship. E17.
b. A metal point fastened to the leg of a fighting cock. Now rare. L17.
c. A climbing-iron. E19.
a. A ridge, mountain, hill, range, or part of one, projecting for some distance from the main range or mass; an offshoot. M17.
A. J. Toynbee The ruins of an Inca fortress on a spur of the eastern mountain-range.
b. A short extension to the side; spec. a branch of a road, railway, etc. (cf. spur line, spur road below). M19.
Environment Now The proposal to drive an M4 spur road through the ancient Long Wood.
a. A short lateral branch or side-shoot, esp. one bearing fruit. L17.
b. Botany. A tubular projection from the base of a perianth-segment or corolla. M18.
c. A disease of rye and Other grasses, in which the blighted ear resembles a cock's spur; = ERGOT 1. M18.
gen. Any sharp or short projection or point resembling or suggestive of a spur. L19.
Phrases: GILDED spurs. gilt spurs: see GILT ppl adjective. on the spur at full speed, in or with the utmost haste. on the spur of the moment without deliberation, on a sudden impulse, impromptu, instantly (cf. spur-of-the-moment below). put spurs to, set spurs to impel or urge on by spurring (lit. & fig.). ride switch and spur, ride whip and spur arch. ride at a furious pace. Scotch spur: see SCOTCH adjective. set spurs to: see put spurs to above. win one's spurs gain knighthood by an act of valour; transf. attain distinction, achieve one's first honours.
Comb.: spur blight a fungus disease of raspberries and loganberries causing discoloured patches on the stems, death of buds at the nodes, and weakening of the laterals; spur-bow (Hist.) = sense 7a above; spur-dog a grey and cream dogfish of the N. Atlantic and Mediterranean, Squalus acanthias, having a spine in front of the dorsal fin; also called spiny dogfish; spurfowl any of a number of small Asian and African game birds, esp. of the genus Galloperdix, with spurs on the legs; spur-gall verb trans. (arch.) gall or injure (a horse) with the use of spurs in riding; fig. gall severely; spur gear, spur gearing Mechanics: consisting of spur-wheels; spur-leather a leather strap for fastening a spur to a boot; under spur-leather (arch.), a subordinate, an attendant, a menial; spur line a short line branching off a railway line, esp. one making a connection to another line; spur mark a mark on the base of a glazed pot made by a spur or support during firing; spur-of-the-moment adjective impromptu, sudden, unpremeditated; spur road a side or minor road; spec. a connecting road branching off from a motorway or main highway; spur-rowel a rowel or spiked wheel forming part of a spur; spur-royal (Hist.) a gold coin worth fifteen shillings, chiefly struck in the reign of James I & VI and having on its reverse a sun with rays, resembling a spur-rowel; spur valerian: see VALERIAN 1; spur-wheel a gear-wheel which has cogs or teeth arranged radially around its edge, a cog-wheel; spur-wing (a) Ornithology a spur-winged bird; (b) Angling a mayfly of the genus Centroptilum; spur-winged adjective having one or more stiff claws or spurs projecting from the pinion-bone of the wing; spur-winged goose, a black and white goose, Plectropterus gambensis, of sub-Saharan Africa; spur-winged plover, a black and white plover, Vanellus spinosus, of N. Africa and the Middle East.
spurless adjective ME.
spurlike adjective resembling (that of) a spur, esp. in shape L16.

skrite (medicine)

skrite
<zoology> The skrike.

Source: Websters Dictionary

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