Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A person who spurs or pushes on recklessly; one who is violent, passionate, heady, or rash.
  • noun A kind of pea of early growth.
  • Violent; impetuous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Violent; impetuous; headstrong.
  • noun A rash, hot-headed man.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic Somebody who is rash, impetuous or impulsive.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun English soldier killed in a rebellion against Henry IV (1364-1403)
  • noun a rash or impetuous person

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Every dictionary worth its spurs notes that the word hotspur was the sobriquet of Sir Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, killed in 1403 in the rebellion against Henry IV.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Every dictionary worth its spurs notes that the word hotspur was the sobriquet of Sir Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, killed in 1403 in the rebellion against Henry IV.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Every dictionary worth its spurs notes that the word hotspur was the sobriquet of Sir Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, killed in 1403 in the rebellion against Henry IV.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Every dictionary worth its spurs notes that the word hotspur was the sobriquet of Sir Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, killed in 1403 in the rebellion against Henry IV.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • It seemed the gravest danger a hotspur faced these days—and not a slight one, to be sure—was from one of his fellows in a mood to take offense.

    Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009

  • It seemed the gravest danger a hotspur faced these days—and not a slight one, to be sure—was from one of his fellows in a mood to take offense.

    Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009

  • It seemed the gravest danger a hotspur faced these days—and not a slight one, to be sure—was from one of his fellows in a mood to take offense.

    Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009

  • Well anyhow my hero was desperate dan. just in front of Wilson in the hotspur I think - but of course this was long before your friends decided to attack humanity and give you a cause to follow

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2008

  • The earliest citation of hotspur was in a chronicle a half-century later: “Herry Percy the yonger, whom the Scottis clepid Herry Hatspore.”

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • And that is also why profoundly literate editorialists still use hotspur to mean “a rash, impetuous, hard-driving person.”

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

Comments

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  • You must unruly passions tame.
    Let calm attention be your aim.
    If you would prosper
    Be never a hotspur,
    For thus do winners play the game.

    August 11, 2014

  • Hotspur (Henry Percy, son of the earl of Northumberland) is a colourful character in Henry IV Part 1, brilliantly exploited by Shakespeare as a foil for Prince Hal, whose father, King Henry, reflects on the possible exchange of the two sons, wishing that Hotspur were his.

    August 21, 2014