Spiral vs Spire - What's the difference?
spiral | spire |
(geometry) A curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point.
(informal) A helix.
A self-sustaining process with a lot of momentum involved, so it is difficult to accelerate or stop it at once.
Helical, like a spiral
To move along the path of a spiral or helix.
(figuratively) To increase continually.
A young shoot of a plant; a spear.
* 1913 ,
A sharp or tapering point.
* {{quote-book, year=1907, author=
, title=The Dust of Conflict
, chapter=1 A tapering structure built on a roof or tower, especially as one of the central architectural features of a church or cathedral roof.
The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
* Shakespeare
(mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the charge in blasting.
Of a seed, plant etc.: to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.5:
* Mortimer
To grow upwards rather than develop horizontally.
(obsolete) To breathe.
One of the sinuous foldings of a serpent or other reptile; a coil.
A spiral.
(geometry) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole.
In geometry terms the difference between spiral and spire
is that spiral is a curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point while spire is the part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole.As an adjective spiral
is helical, like a spiral.spiral
English
(wikipedia spiral)Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
* death spiral * downward spiral * graveyard spiral * spiral staircase * upward spiralAdjective
(-)Verb
- The falling leaves spiralled down from the tree.
- Her debts were spiralling out of control.
External links
* (commonslite)Anagrams
* ----spire
English
Etymology 1
(etyl) . Cognate with Dutch spier, German Spier, (Spiere), Danish spir, Norwegian spir, Swedish spira.Noun
(en noun)- Clara had pulled a button from a hollyhock spire , and was breaking it to get the seeds.
citation, passage=A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.}}
- The spire of the church rose high above the town.
- the spire and top of praises
Verb
(spir)- In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race / Of woman kind it fayrest Flowre doth spyre , / And beareth fruit of honour and all chast desyre.
- It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) spirer, and its source, (etyl) .Verb
(spir)- (Shenstone)
Etymology 3
From (etyl) spire.Noun
(en noun)- (Dryden)
