spar

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“
Fortunately the spar was a portion of one of the yards, and still had a quantity of rope connected to it.

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Definitions (50)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (12)

  1. noun Nautical A wooden or metal pole, such as a boom, yard, or bowsprit, used to support sails and rigging.
  2. noun A usually metal pole used as part of a crane or derrick.
  3. noun A main structural member in an airplane wing or a tail assembly that runs from tip to tip or from root to tip.
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Examples (50)

  • Here comes Terlan with the mainmast of his brother's yacht TERLAN (smiling): Yes, the spar is all right. —  Lines in Pleasant Places Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler
  • You haven't such a thing as a spar as will make me a pole top-gallant mast, captain, have you Is she large or small Well, captain, I don't care whether the spar be large or small; I've two carpenters on board, and I'll soon dub it down into shape I inquired about the vessel--I did not refer to the spar," replied Captain Delmar, haughtily And I referred to the spar, which is my business, and not to the vessel, which is no consarn of mine," replied the American captain. —  Percival Keene
  • A finely fibrous form is known as satin-spar (_q.v._), a name also applied to fibrous gypsum: the most typical example of this is the snow-white material, often with a rosy tinge and a pronounced silky lustre, which occurs in veins in the Carboniferous shales of Alston Moor in Cumberland. —  Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"
  • Calcium fluoride_, CaF_2, constitutes the mineral fluor-spar (_q.v._), and is prepared artificially as an insoluble white powder by precipitating a solution of calcium chloride with a soluble fluoride. —  Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"
  • "I saw a man leaning over the spar--a mere shadowy figure--but I know I could not be mistaken I nodded. —  The Holladay Case A Tale
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This word has been looked up 103 times.

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Etymologies (9)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English sparre, rafter.
  2. Middle English sparren, to thrust or strike rapidly, perhaps from obsolete French esparer, to kick, from Old Italian sparare, to fling : s-, intensive pref.; see sforzando + parare, to ward off; see parry.
  3. Low German, from Middle Low German.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. from Middle English sparre, from Anglo-Saxon *spearra (not found, but indicated by the derived verb) = Middle Dutch sparre, sperre, Dutch spar = Old High German sparro, Middle High German sparre, German sparren, a bar, beam, = Icelandic sparri, a spar, gag, the gate of a town, sperra, a spar, rafter, = Swedish Danish sparre, a rafter; cf. Irish sparr, a spar, joist, beam, balk, sparra, a spar, nail, = Gaelic sparr, a spar, joist, beam, roost; Irish Gaelic sparran, a bar, bolt (perhaps from English); perhaps akin to spear. Hence spar, v., and ult. par, parrock, park.
  2. Early modern English also sparr, sparre; from Middle English sparren, sperren, speren, from Anglo-Saxon *sparrian (in PP. gesparrod), *spearrian (in comp. bispearrian = Old High German sparran, sperran, Middle High German G. sperren = Icelandic sparra, sperra = Swedish spärra = Danish spærre, fasten with a spar; from the noun.
  3. Formerly also sparr; from Middle English spar (only in early Middle English comp. spærston), from Anglo-Saxon *spær, found only in comp. spær-stān (see sparstone) and in adjective spœren, glossing gipsus, i. e. L. gypseus, of gypsum, = late Middle High German spar, gypsum, usually in comp. spar-glas and spar-kalc, spor-kalk, sper-kalk, German spar-kalk, plaster; origin obscure.
  4. Early modern English sparre; from Middle English sparren, rush, make an onset; in def. 2 perhaps a different word, from Old French esparer, French éparer (= Italian sparare), fling out with the heels, kick. Cf. Lithuanian spirti, stamp, kick; Russian sporitǐ, quarrel, wrangle. The word spar cannot be connected, unless remotely, with spur.
  5. from spar, v.
  6. = French spare = Spanish esparo, from Latin sparus, from Greek σπάρος, a kind of fish, the gilthead.
 

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/spɑr/
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