<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a U-shaped device that slips over and straps to the heel of a riding boot and has a blunt or pointed metal part projecting from the back: used by a mounted rider to urge a horse forward by pressing the projection against the horse’s flank.</li><li>anything that urges or drives someone to act, hurry, etc.: A passion to win the championship was the spur that galvanized him to train like never before.</li><li>Synonyms: instigation, provocation, inducement, incentive, stimulus, incitement, goad</li><li>Also called climbing spur.</li><li>climbing iron (def).</li><li>Ornithology: a stiff, usually sharp, horny process on the leg of various birds, especially the domestic rooster, or on the bend of the wing, as in jacanas and screamers.</li><li>Pathology: bone spur (def).</li><li>a sharp piercing or cutting instrument fastened to the leg of a gamecock in cockfighting; gaff.</li><li>anything resembling this instrument; a sharp projection or attachment.</li><li>Physical Geography: a ridge or line of elevation projecting from or subordinate to the main body of a mountain or mountain range.</li><li>a short or stunted branch or shoot, as of a tree.</li><li>Typography: a short, serif-like projection from the bottom of the short vertical stroke in the capital G in some fonts.</li><li>wing dam (def).</li><li>Botany: a slender, usually hollow, projection from some part of a flower, as from the calyx of the larkspur or the corolla of the violet.</li><li>Also called spur shoot: a short shoot bearing flowers, as in fruit trees.</li><li>Architecture: a short wooden brace, usually temporary, for strengthening a post or some other part.</li><li>any offset from a wall, as a buttress.</li><li>griffe 2.</li><li>Ceramics: a triangular support of refractory clay for an object being fired.</li><li>Railroads: spur track (def).</li></ul><p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li><p>(used with object) spurred, spurring: to prick or urge with or as if with a spur or spurs; incite or drive (often used with on): The rider spurred his mount into a wild gallop. Their encouragement spurred her on to achieve even more.</p></li><li><p>Synonyms: instigate, induce, inspire, impel, stimulate, provoke, goad</p></li><li><p>Antonyms: discourage</p></li><li><p>(of a gamecock) to strike or wound with a spur.</p></li><li><p>to furnish with spurs or a spur.</p></li><li><p>(used without object) spurred, spurring: to goad or urge one’s horse on with spurs or a spur; ride quickly: Horsemen spurred along every road to carry the news over the country.</p></li><li><p>to proceed hurriedly; press forward: We spurred onward through the night.</p></li></ul>