Spur

How to spell spur

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce spur

What does spur mean?

1. verbTo encourage, stimulate, or drive someone or something into action.
2. nounA small pointed or spiked device fixed to the heel of a rider's boot to urge a horse forward.
3. nounA projecting ridge of land, a side branch, or a short offshoot of a road or railway.

Spur in a sentence

• verb

  The tax cut was meant to spur consumer spending.

• noun

  The cowboy fastened a polished metal spur to each boot.

• noun

  The freight train left the main line and rolled onto a short spur.

• verb

  A desire to prove herself can spur a young manager to work harder.

• noun

  A gentle touch of the spur signalled the horse to move on.

• noun

  The village sits on a rocky spur above the valley floor.

Where does spur come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word comes from Old English spora or spura, the name for the pointed metal goad a rider wore at the heel to prod a horse forward. It is a native Germanic word, closely related to the Old English verb spurnan, 'to kick or strike with the foot', which survives today as 'spurn'. Because the original object existed to drive an animal onward, the figurative verb sense, 'to urge or stimulate into action', grew naturally and was well established by the 1500s. The same root family also gave English a sense of 'a thing that projects', which is why a sharp ridge of land, a side branch of a railway, and the bony point on a bird's leg all came to be called a spur. The spelling has stayed short and phonetic throughout, so the main thing to remember is simply that the unstressed vowel sound is written with a single 'u'.

How the word is built

• spur (a single Old English root; no prefix or suffix, from spora 'a goad worn on the heel')