Spire \Spire\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Spired; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Spiring.]
   To shoot forth, or up in, or as if in, a spire. --Emerson.
   [1913 Webster]

         It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being
         more inclined to branch into arms.       --Mortimer.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	Spire \Spire\, v. i. [L. spirare to breathe. See Spirit.]
   To breathe. [Obs.] --Shenstone.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	Spire \Spire\, n. [OE. spire, spir, a blade of grass, a young
   shoot, AS. sp[imac]r; akin to G. spier a blade of grass, Dan.
   spire a sprout, sprig, Sw. spira a spar, Icel. sp[imac]ra.]
   1. A slender stalk or blade in vegetation; as, a spire grass
      or of wheat.
      [1913 Webster]

            An oak cometh up a little spire.      --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A tapering body that shoots up or out to a point in a
      conical or pyramidal form. Specifically (Arch.), the roof
      of a tower when of a pyramidal form and high in proportion
      to its width; also, the pyramidal or aspiring termination
      of a tower which can not be said to have a roof, such as
      that of Strasburg cathedral; the tapering part of a
      steeple, or the steeple itself. "With glistering spires
      and pinnacles adorned." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            A spire of land that stand apart,
            Cleft from the main.                  --Tennyson.
      [1913 Webster]

            Tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells
            Just undulates upon the listening ear. --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the
      chargen in blasting.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
      [1913 Webster]

            The spire and top of praises.         --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	Spire \Spire\, n. [L. spira coil, twist; akin to Gr. ???: cf. F.
   spire.]
   1. A spiral; a curl; a whorl; a twist. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Geom.) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution
      of the straight line about the pole. See Spiral, n.
      [1913 Webster]

   Spire bearer. (Paleon.) Same as Spirifer.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	spire
    n 1: a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
         (usually a church or temple) and that tapers to a point at
         the top [syn: steeple, spire]

	

	200 Moby Thesaurus words for "spire":
   acme, antenna tower, anthrophore, apex, apogee, arise, ascend,
   aspire, axis, barbican, become airborne, belfry, bell tower, blade,
   bole, bract, bracteole, bractlet, brow, buss the clouds, campanile,
   cane, cap, carpophore, caudex, caulicle, caulis, claw skyward,
   climax, cloud nine, cog, colossus, column, comb, come up,
   cotyledon, crag, crest, crown, culm, culmen, culmination, cupola,
   curl upwards, derrick, dome, edge, extreme limit, extremity, fang,
   fire tower, flag, float, floral leaf, fly, fly aloft, foliole,
   footstalk, frond, funicule, funiculus, gain altitude, glume, go up,
   grow up, hang, harrow, haulm, heaven, heavens, height, high noon,
   highest pitch, highest point, hover, involucre, involucrum, jag,
   kite, lamina, lantern, leaf, leaflet, leafstalk, leave the ground,
   lemma, levitate, lighthouse, ligule, limit, loom, martello,
   martello tower, mast, maximum, meridian, minaret, monument, mount,
   mountaintop, ne plus ultra, needle, no place higher, noon, obelisk,
   observation tower, pagoda, peak, pecten, pedicel, peduncle, petal,
   petiole, petiolule, petiolus, pilaster, pile, pillar, pine needle,
   pinnacle, pitch, plane, point, poise, pole, projection, pylon,
   pyramid, rake, ratchet, rear, rear up, reed, ridge, rise, rise up,
   sawtooth, seed leaf, seedstalk, sepal, seventh heaven, shaft, sky,
   skyscraper, snag, snaggle, soar, spathe, spear, spiral, sprocket,
   spur, stalk, stand on tiptoe, stand up, standpipe, steeple, stem,
   stipe, stipula, stipule, stock, straw, stupa, summit, surge,
   swarm up, sweep up, take off, television mast, tigella, tip,
   tip-top, tooth, top, tope, tour, tower, trunk, turret, up, upgo,
   upgrow, upheave, upmost, upper extremity, uppermost, uprise,
   upspin, upstream, upsurge, upswarm, upwind, utmost, vertex,
   very top, water tower, windmill tower, zenith, zoom