spunk (spungk)

i. [ show a flame or spark: used in phrases. To spunk out, to come to light; be discovered. [Scotch.] But what if the thing spunks out ? Noctes Ambrosianæ, Sept., 1832. To spunk up, to show spirit, energy, or obstinate en- durance amid difficulties. [Colloq., U. S.] spunkie (spung'ki), n. [ spunk + dim. -ie .] 1. As A small fire; a spark.-2. The ignis fatuus, or will-o'-the-wisp.-3. A person of a fiery or ir- ritable temper. [Scotch in all uses.] spunky (spung'ki), a. [ Erskine, a spunkie Norland billie. Burns, Prayer to the Scotch Representatives. There are grave dons, too, in more than one college, who think they are grown again as young and spunky as undergraduates. Landor , Imag. Conv., William Penn and Lord Peter[borough. spun-out (spun'out), a. Lengthened; unduly protracted. We can pardon a few awkward or tedious phrases, a few Grove, Dict. Music, I. 645. spun - out pa ages. spur (sper), n. [ E. obs. speron ), also without the suffix, OSp. espuera, Sp. espuela = Pg. espora, a spur, worn on the heel by horseman to goad the horse. The earliest medieval spurs were without rowels (see prick - spur, goad- spur ); an other form had a ball from which a short point project ed, and was the ball call- spike spur. The rowel was first introduced in the thirteenth century, but was not IMG:content-1871.png:[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small] a, knight's spur (12th or 13th century); 8, bra spur (Henry IV.); c, long-spiked rowel-spur (Edward IV.); d, long-necked bra spur (Henry VII.); e, steel spur (Henry VIII.). common until the beginning of the fourteenth. The spurs of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are sometimes of extraordinary length on account of the projection of the steel flanchers which kept the heel far from the horse's side. See rowel - spur (with cut), also cut under prick - spur. Wyth-oute spores other spere spakliche he loked. Piers Plowman (B), xviii. 12. Mount thou my horse, and hide thy spurs in him, Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops, And here again. Shak ., J. C., v. 3. 15. 2. Anything which goads, impels, or urges to action; incitement; instigation; incentive; stimulus: used in this sense in the phrase on or upon the spur of the moment that is, on a momentary impulse; suddenly; hastily; im promptu. What need we any spur but our own cause To prick us to redre ? Shak ., J. C., ii. 1. 123. If you were my counsel, you would not advise me to answer upon the spur of the moment to a charge which the basest of mankind seem ready to establish by perjury. Scott , Guy Manner ing, lvi. 3. Some projecting thing more or le closely resembling a horseman's spur in form or pos i- tion. (a) A root of a tree; a large lateral root. By the spurs pluck'd up The pine and cedar. Shak ., Tempest, v. 1. 47. Yet is thy root sincere, sound as the rock, A quarry of stout spurs and knotted fangs. Cowper , Yardley Oak, 1. 117. (b) pl. Short small twigs projecting a few inches from the trunk. Hall i well. [Prov. Eng.] (c) A snag; a spine; spe spur cifically, in herpet.: (1) An anal spur. (2) A calcar of some frogs. (d) In entom., a spine or stiff bristle on the leg. (e) In ornith.: (1) A horny modification of the integument of a bird's foot, forming an outgrowth of the nature of a claw, usually sharp-pointed and supported on a bony core, and used as a weapon of offense and defense; a calcar. Such a spur differs from a claw mainly in not ending a digit, but being an offset from the side of the metatarsus; it is also characteristic of though not confined to the male, and is therefore a secondary sexual character. It is familiar as occurring on the shank of the domestic cock and other gallinaceous birds, and is sometimes double or treble, as in Pavo bicalcaratus and in the genera Galloperdix, It hag in is, and Poly plectron. See cuts under calcarate, Galloperdix, It hag in is, pea - fowl, Poly plectron, Rasores, and tarsometa tarsus. (2) A similar horny outgrowth on the pinion-bone of the wing in various birds, resembling a claw, but differing in being a lateral offset not terminating a digit. It occurs in certain geese, plovers, pigeons, and jacanas, and is double in the screamer. See cuts under jacana, Palame dea, and spur -winged. (f) In sporting, a gaff, or sharp piercing or cutting instrument fastened upon the natural spur of a game-cock in the pit. (g) In mammal., the calcar of some bats. (h) In phys, geog., a ridge or line of elevation subordinate to the main body or crest of a mountain range; one of the lower divisions of a mountain-ma , when this, as is frequently the case, is divided by valleys or gorges. See mountain - chain. The ground plan of the latter ma if [Mont Blanc) is one long ridge, which, except at the two extremities, preserves a very uniform direction, and throws out a series of long spurs to the north-west. Bonney, The Alpine Regions, p. 25. (1) A climbing-iron used in mounting telegraph-poles and the like. (j) In carp . , a brace connecting or strengthening a post and some other part, as a rafter or cro -beam. (k) In arch ., any offset from a wall, etc., as a buttre ; specifically, the claw or griffe projecting from the torus at each of the angles of the base of early Pointed medieval columns. (1) In bot . , a calcar; a slender hollow projection from some part of a flower, as from the calyx of columbine and larkspur and the corolla of violets. It is usually nectariferous, being the nectary (nectarium) of Linnæus. The term is also rarely applied to a solid spur-like proce . See also cuts under nectary , columbine , and Del phinium . ( m ) In fort . , a wall that cro es a part of the rampart and joins it to an anterior work; also, a tower or blockhouse placed in the outworks before the port. (n) In ship- building: (1) A shore or piece of timber extending from the bilge ways, and fayed and bolted to the bottom of the ship on the stocks. (2) A curved piece of timber serving as a half beam to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed. (3) A heavy timber extended from a pier or wharf against the side of a ship to prevent the ship from striking against the pier. (0) In hydraul, eng in., a wing-dam, or projection built out from a river-bank to deflect the current. ( p ) On a casting, a fin, or projection of waste metal. (q) A small piece of refractory clay ware with one or more projecting points, used in a kiln to support or separate articles in a saggar during firing, and to prevent the pieces from adhering to the sag S S 1 2 3 IMG:content-1872.png:[blocks in formation] gar and to each other. Also called stilt. E. H. Knight. (r) In an auger, a projecting point on the edge, which makes the circular cut, from which the chip is removed by the lip. E. H. Knight. See cut under auger. (8) The prong on the arms of some forms of patent anchors, for the purpose of catching on the bottom and making the fluke bite or take hold more quickly. See cut under anchor. (t) In printing, a register-point. [Eng.] (u) In an at., the angle at which the arteries leave a cavity or trunk. Dunglison. (v) In mining, a branch of a vein; a feeder or dropper. - Anal spurs. See anal. Hot o' the spur. See hot1.- Order of the Golden Spur, an old order of the papal court, of which the badge was a Maltese cro with rays between the arms, and having a small spur hanging from it. Having sunk into neglect, it was superseded in 1841 by the Order of St. Sylvester.- Scotch spur, in her., a bearing representing a prick-spur without rowel.Spur-pepper. See Capsicum. - Spur system, in hort., a method of pruning grape-vines in which the ripened wood of the preceding season is cut back close to the old stem or arm, so as to leave spurs bearing one, two, or three buds, the spurs being so selected as to provide for shoots at equal distances. The growing shoots are trained to a position at right angles to the arm, whether this is horizontal or vertical, and are topped after the formation of one, two, or three bunches of grapes upon each. - Spur valerian. See Cent ran thus. To win one's spurs, to gain a title to knighthood (because spurs were given as a reward for gallant or valiant action); hence, to establish a title to honorable recognition and reward. With spur and yardt, with whip and spur - that is, at once. Trusteth wel that I Wol be hire champy on with spore and yerde , I raughte noght though alle hire foos it herde. Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1427. spur (sper), v.; pret. and pp. spurred, ppr. spur ring. [ spur He spurred the old horse, and he held him tight. Kingsley , The Knight's Leap. 2. Figuratively, to urge or incite. Remember yet, he was first wrong'd, and honour Spurr'd him to what he did. 5870 States. Flowering spurge, a conspicuous species, Eu phorbia corollata, of eastern North America, a rather slender plant 2 or 3 feet high, with an umbel of about five forks, the rays repeatedly forking into twos or threes. The involucre has five white appendages appearing like petals. The root has properties similar to those of the ipeHy op-spurge, the purple spurge, Euphorbia Peplis, a European maritime species spreading flat on the sand.Indian tree-spurge. Same as milk - hedge. - Ipecac spurge, ipecacuanha-spurge, Euphorbia Ipecacuanha, found in the United States from Connecticut to Florida, Fletcher ( and another ), Love's Cure, i. 3. cac-spurge. Also (with other species) called milk - weed. 3. To hasten. [Rare.] Lovers break not hours, Unle it be to come before their time; So much they spur their expedition. Shak., T. G. of V., v. 1. 6. 4. (a) To fasten spurs to, as a horseman's boot, or a solleret. ( b ) To furnish with spurs, as a rider: as, booted and spurred; to furnish with a spur or gaff, as a game-cock.-5. To prop; support. Hall i well. [Prov. Eng.] II. in trans. 1. To prick one's horse with the spur; ride in haste. Now spurs the lated traveller apace To gain the timely inn. Shak., Macbeth, iii. 3. 7. 2. Figuratively, to pre forward. Some bold men, though they begin with infinite ignorance and errour, yet, by spurring on, refine themselves. Grew.