Other forms: spurs
A spur is something that drives you into action. A spur to reform, on the spur of the moment, spur him on.
The literal one is the metal point on a rider's heel, and every figurative use comes from that. On the spur of the moment means without planning. A spur is also a ridge running out from a mountain, and a short branch line of a railway.
1nounspurSomething that drives you into action.
“Losing his job was the spur he needed to start his own business.”
2nounridgeA ridge running out from a mountain.
“We followed a narrow spur up towards the main peak.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
spur is a goad, or a ridge.
Old English spora names the rider's spur, from a Germanic root meaning to kick or tread. Spurn is a relative.
Proto-Indo-European
*sperH- — to kick
Proto-Germanic
*spurô
Proto-West Germanic
*spurō
Old English
spora
Middle English
spure
English, today
spur
From Middle English spure, spore, from Old English spora, spura, from Proto-West Germanic spurō, from Proto-Germanic spurô, from Proto-Indo-European sperH- (“to kick”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA