spuilzie 
the declared will of the person, or without the 
order of law. 
spuilzie, spulzie (spiil'ye), v. [Better written 
spitlyi; x/iiilyii'.'] Same as spoil. [Scotch.] 
Are ye come to spulzie and plunder my ha? 
Baron of Braikley (Child's Ballads, VI. 192). 
spuke, it. and v. Same as spool'. 
spuller (spul'fer), . A Scotch form of spooler. 
spulzie, a. and v. See spuilzie. 
spume (spurn), w. [< ME. spume, < OF. (and F.) 
spume = Sp. Pg. espumii = It. spiimu, < L. SJHI- 
iii a, foam. Ct.foam; cf. also spoom.] Froth; 
foam ; scum ; frothy matter raised on liquors 
or fluid substances by boiling, effervescence, 
or agitation. 
Waters frozen in pans and open glasses after their dis- 
solution do commonly leave a froth and spuine upon them. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 1. 
spume (spurn), v. i. ; pret. and pp. gpumeil, ppr. 
spuming. [< spume, .] 1. To froth; foam. 
At a blow nee lustelye swapping 
Thee wyne fresh spuming with a draught swild vp to the 
bottom. Stanihurst, MaeiS, i. 727. 
2f. Same as spoom. 
Spumella (spu-mel'S), n. [NL., dim. of L. 
pnma, froth, foam: see spume.] The typical 
genus of Spumcllidee. S. guttula and S. viripam 
are two Ehrenbergian species, abundant in 
fresh and salt infusions. 
Spumellaria (spu-me-la'ri-a), n. pi. [NL. : see 
Spumella.] An oi'der of radiolarians. The cen- 
tral capsule is (usually permanently) spherical, more rare- 
ly discoid or polymorphous ; the nucleus is usually divided 
only immediately before the formation of spores, into a 
number of small nuclei ; the capsule-membrane is simple 
and pierced on all sides by innumerable fine pores ; and 
the extracapsularium is a voluminous gelatinous sheath, 
without phffiodium, and usually with zooxanthella. The 
skeleton consists of silica, or of a silicate, originally usu- 
ally forming a central reticulate sphere, later extremely 
polymorphous, more rarely rudimentary or entirely want- 
ing. The order is divided into several families. 
spumellarian (spu-me-la'ri-an), a. and . I. a. 
Of or pertaining to the Spumellaria. 
II. n. A member of the Spumellaria. 
Spumellidae (spu-mel'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Spu- 
mella + -idee.] A family of trimastigate panto- 
stomatous infusorians, typified by the genus 
Spumella. They have one long and two short 
flagella, and are adherent by a temporary 
pedicle. 
spumeoust (spu'me-us), a. [< L. spumens, 
frothy, < spuma, foam : see spume.] Frothy ; 
foamy ; spumous ; spumy. Dr. H. More. 
spumescence (spu-mes'ens), n. [< spumescen(t) 
+ -ce.] Frothiness; the state of foaming or 
being foamy. Imp. Diet. 
spumescent (spu-mes'ent), a. [< L. spumes- 
cen(t-)s, ppr. of spumescere, grow frothy or 
foamy, < spuma, froth, foam: see spume.'] Re- 
sembling froth or foam ; foaming. Imp. Diet. 
spumidt (spu'mid), a. [< LL. spumidus, frothy, 
foamy, < L. spuma, froth, foam: see spume.] 
Frothy ; spumous. Imp. Diet. 
spumiferous (spu-mif'e-rus), a. [= Pg. espu- 
mifero = It. spumifero, < L. spumifer, frothing, 
foaming, < spuma, froth, foam, + ferre = E. 
bear 1 .] Producing foam. Imp. Diet. 
spuminess (spu'mi-nes), n. [< spumy + -ness.] 
The state or character of being spumy. Bailey. 
spumous (spu'mus), a. [= F. spumeux = Pr. 
spumos = Sp. Pg. espumoso = It. spumoso, < L. 
spumosus, full of froth or foam, < spuma, froth, 
foam : see spume.] Con sisting of froth or scum ; 
foamy. Arbuthnot. 
spumy (spu'mi), a. [< spume + -y 1 .] Foamy; 
covered with foam. 
The Tiber now their spumy keels divide. 
Brooke, Constantia. 
Under the black cliff's spumy base. 
Cotton (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 217). 
The spumy waves proclaim the wat'ry war. Dryden. 
spun (spun). Preterit and past participle of 
spin. 
spunget, spungert, etc. Obsolete spellings of 
sponge, etc. 
spunk (spungk), n. [Formerly also sponk; < Ir. 
Gael, sponc, sponge, spongy wood, touchwood, 
tinder, < L. spongia, a sponge, < Gr. airoyyta, 
oir6yyoc, a sponge: see sponge.] 1. Touch- 
wood ; tinder ; a kind of tinder made from a 
species of fungus ; amadou. Also celled pi(k. 
Spunk, or touch-wood prepared, might perhaps make it 
[powder] russet. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 6. 
2. A very small fire; a fiery spark or small 
flame; also, a lucifer match. [Scotch.] 
Oh for a spunk o' Allan's glee ! 
Burns, First Epistle to Lapraik. 
A spunk it' rtrc in the red-room. 
Scott, Guy Mannering, xi. 
3. Mettle; spirit ; pluck; obstinate resistance 
to yielding. [Colloq.] 
The Squire lias got spunk In him. 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2. 
Parsons is men, like the rest of us, and the doctor had 
got his spunk up. //. B. Stmce, Oldtown, p. 87. 
spunk (spungk), r. /. [< spunk, .] To kindle; 
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' 
A'octes Ambrosiantr, Sept., 1832. 
To spunk up, to show spirit, energy, or obstinate en- 
durance amid difficulties. [Colloq., I!. S.] 
spunkie (spung'ki), . [< spunk + dim. -ie.] 
1. 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. [< spunk + -y 1 .] 1. 
.Showing a small fire or spark. [Scotch.] 2. 
Haunted : noting a place supposed to be haunt- 
ed from the frequent appearance of the ignis 
fatuus. [Scotch.] 3. Having spunk, fire, 
spirit, or obstinacy; spirited; unwilling to 
give up, or to acknowledge one's self beaten. 
[Colloq.] 
Erskine, a spunkie Norland billie. 
Burns, I*rayer 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 under- 
graduates. 
Landor, Imag. Conv., William Penn and Lord Peter- 
t borough. 
Spun-OUt (spun'out), a. Lengthened; unduly 
protracted. 
We can pardon a few awkward or tedious phrases, a few 
spun out passages. Grove, Diet. Music, I. 645. 
spur (sper), w. [< ME. spure, spore, < AS. 
spora, a spur (hand-spora, ' hand-spur,' talon), 
= MD. spore, D. spoor, a spur, also a track, = 
MLG. spore = OHG. sporo, MHG. spore, spor, G. 
sporn = Icel. spori = Sw. sporre = Dan. spore, 
spur (cf. OF. esporon, esperon, F. eperon = Pr. 
espero = OSp. esporon, Sp. espolon = Pg. esporao 
= It. sperone, sprone (> E. obs. speron), also with- 
out the suffix, OSp. espuera, Sp. espuela = Pg. 
espora, a spur, < OHG. sporo, ace. sporon) ; orig. 
' kicker,' from its use on the heel ; from the 
root of spurn, v. Cf. speer 1 , spoor, speron, from 
the same ult. root.] 1. A pointed instrument 
worn on the 
heel by a 
horseman to 
goad the 
horse. The 
earliest medi- 
eval spurs were 
without rowels 
(see prick-spur, 
goad-spur) ; an- 
other form had 
a ball from 
which a short 
point project- 
ed, and was 
called the ball- 
and-spike spur. 
The rowel was 
first introduced 
in the thir- 
teenth century, 
but was not 
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 Handlers which kept the heel far from the horse's 
side. See rowel-spur (with cut), also cut under prick-sprir. 
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., 3. 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 (lie 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 redress? Shak., J. C., ii. 1. 123. 
If you were my counsel, you would not advise me to an- 
swer upon the spur of the moment to a charge which the 
basest of mankind seem ready to establish by perjury. 
Scott, Guy Mannering, Ivi. 
3. Some projecting thing more or less closely 
resembling a horseman's spur in form or posi- 
tion, (o) 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) pi. Short small twigs projecting a few inches from the 
trunk. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.J (c) A snag ; a spine ; spe- 
of Spurs. 
a, knight's spur (i2th ori3th century); b, brass 
spur (Henry IV.); c . 1 
IV.) ; rf, lone 
VII.) i f, steel spur (Henry VIII.). 
long-spiked rowel-spur (E.l- 
-necked brass spur (Henry 
spur 
clflcally, inherpet.: (1) An anal spur. (2) A calcar of some 
frogs, (d) In entom., a spine or stiff bristle on the leg. (e) 
InorntiA.: (1) A horny modification of the integument of a 
bird's foot, forming an outgrowth of the nature of a claw, 
usually sharp- puin ted 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 
i'ttru l>ic((ti'tiratwt&n<\ in the genera (jaltopenh'x, Ithaginix, 
ami Pttlffjtlectron. See cuts under calcaratf, Galloperdix, 
Ithaginis, pea-fowl, Prtyptfctron, Hasoren, and tarsometa- 
tarsutt. (2) A similar horny outgrowth on the pin ion- bone 
of the wing in various birds, resembling a claw, but dif- 
fering in being a lateral otfset not terminating a digit. It 
occurs in certain geese, plovers, pigeons, and jacanas, and 
is double in the screamer. See cuts under jacana, Palamf- 
dea, and spttr-winged. (/) In tportlng, a gaff, or sharp 
piercing or cutting instrument fastened upon the natural 
spur of a game-cock In the pit. (g) In 0UMUML, the cal- 
car of some bats, (h) In phy*. geog., a ridge or line of ele- 
vation subordinate to the main body or crest of a mountain- 
range; one of the lower divisions of a mountain-mas?, 
when this, as is frequently the case, is divided by valleys 
or gorges. See mountain-chain. 
The ground plan of the latter massif [Mont Blanc] is 
one long ridge, which, except at the two extremities, pre- 
serves a very uniform direction, and throws out a series of 
long spurs to the north-west. 
Bonney, The Alpine Regions, p. 25. 
(i) A climbing-iron used in mounting telegraph-poles and 
the like. (,/') In carp., a brace connecting or strengthening 
a post and some other part, as a rafter or cross-beam. (*) 
In arch,, any otfset from a wall, etc., as a buttress ; spe- 
cifically, the claw or griff e 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 ca- 
lyx of columbine and larkspur and 
the corolla of violets. It is usually 
nectariferous, being the nectary 
(nectarium)of Linneeus. The term 
is also rarely applied to a solid 
spur-like process. See also cuts 
under nectary, columbine, and Del- 
phinium. (m)In/ort,,a wall that 
crosses 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 bilgeways, and fayed and bolt- 
ed to the bottom of the ship on the 
stocks. (2) A curved piece of tim- 
ber serving as a half beam to sup- 
port the deck where a whole beam 
cannot be placed. (3) A heavy tim- 
ber extended from a pier or wharf 
against the side of a ship to pre- 
vent the ship from striking against 
the pier, (o) In hydraul, engin., 
a wing-dam, or projection built out 
from a river-bank to deflect the 
current, (p) On acasting, a fin, or 
projection of waste metal, (q) A 
small piece of refractory clay ware w 
with one or more projecting of to fmpatiens 
points, used in a kiln to support (a) Tropxoiu 
or separate articles in a saggar 
during firing, and to prevent the 
pieces from adhering to the sag- 
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 wnich the chip is removed 
by the lip. E. H. Knight. See cut under auger. () 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.] () In anat., the 
angle at which the arteries leave a cavity or trunk. Dun- 
glison. (o) In mining, a branch of a vein ; a feeder or 
dropper. Anal spurs. See anal. Hot 0* the spur. 
See hot* . Order Of the Golden Spur, an old order of the 
papal court, of which the badge was a Maltese cross 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 Centranthus.7o win One's spurs, to gain a title to 
knighthood (because spurs were given as a reward for gal- 
j-, Spur in the flowers 
lant or valiant action) ; hence, to establish a title to honor- 
able recognition and reward. With spur and yardt, 
with whip and spur that is, at once. 
Trusteth wel that I 
Wol be hire chnmpyon with tcpore and yerde, 
I raughte noght though alle hire foos it herde. 
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1427. 
spur (sp6r), v. ; pret. and pp. spurred, ppr. spur- 
ring. [< ME. spores, sperren, sporien, spurien 
= OHG. sporon, MHG. sporen, sporn, G. spornen 
Sw. sporrtt = Dan . spore, spur; from the noun. 
Cf. AS. spyrian, spirian, sperian, etc., track, fol- 
low out, E. speer: see speer^."] I. trans, 1. To 
prick or rasp with the point or rowel of a spur. 
He sporyd his hors, and theder toke the way. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.X L 217. 
