Spur vs Affect - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between spur and affect

is that spur is a rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight while affect is one's mood or inclination; mental state.

As verbs the difference between spur and affect

is that spur is to prod (especially a horse) in the side or flank, with the intent to urge motion or haste, to gig while affect is to influence or alter.

spur

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m).

Noun

(en noun)

A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.

* 1598 , William Shakespeare, (Henry V) , Act IV, Scene VI, line 4:

Lives he, good uncle? thrice within this hour I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting; From helmet to the spur all blood he was.

* 1786 , Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons , page 22:

Two sorts of spurs seem to have been in use about the time of the Conquest, one called a pryck, having only a single point like the gaffle of a fighting cock; the other consisting of a number of points of considerable length, radiating from and revolving on a center, thence named the rouelle or wheel spur.

Anything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does to a horse.

* 1601 , (William Shakespeare), (Troilus and Cressida) , Act II, Scene II, line 198.

But, worthy Hector, She is a theme of honour and renown, A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds...

An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster.

Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city.

Roots, tree roots.

* 1609 , , Act IV, Scene II, line 57:

I do note / That grief and patience, rooted in them both, / Mingle their spurs together.

* 1610 , , act 5 scene 1

[...] the strong-bas'd promontory

Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up

The pine and cedar

A mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.

A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber.

(carpentry) A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.

(architecture) The short wooden buttress of a post.

(architecture) A projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage.

Ergotized rye or other grain.

A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.

(shipbuilding) A piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.

(shipbuilding) A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed.

Derived terms

* spur-of-the-moment

Verb

(spurr)
To prod (especially a horse) in the side or flank, with the intent to urge motion or haste, to gig.

* 1592 , William Shakespeare, Richard III , Act V, Scene III, line 339:

Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head! Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood; Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!

To urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object; to incite; to stimulate; to instigate; to impel; to drive.

* 1599 , William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night , Act III, Scene IV, line 4.

My desire / (More sharp than filed steel) did spur me forth...

* '>citation

To put spurs on; as, a spurred boot.

Derived terms

* spur on

Etymology 2

See sparrow.

Noun

(en noun)
(Scotland) A sparrow.

A tern.

Etymology 3

Short for spurious.

Noun

(en noun)
A spurious tone, one that interferes with a signal in a circuit and is often masked underneath that signal.

affect
English

Etymology 1
From (etyl) affecter, (etyl) affecter, and its source, the participle stem of (etyl) .
Verb
(en verb)
To influence or alter.

The experience affected me deeply.

The heat of the sunlight affected the speed of the chemical reaction.

* Macaulay

The climate affected their health and spirits.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Steven Sloman, volume=100, issue=1, page=74, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation , passage=Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.}}
To move to emotion.

He was deeply affected by the tragic ending of the play.

* Edmund Burke

A consideration of the rationale of our passions seems to me very necessary for all who would affect them upon solid and pure principles.

Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).

Hepatitis affects the liver.

(archaic) To dispose or incline.

* Milton

men whom they thought best affected to religion and their country's liberty

(archaic) To tend to by affinity or disposition.

* Newton

The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.

(archaic) To assign; to appoint.

* Thackeray

One of the domestics was affected to his special service.

Usage notes
Affect'' and effect are sometimes confused. ''Affect'' conveys influence over something that already exists, but ''effect indicates the manifestation of new or original ideas or entities: * “...new policies have effected major changes in government.” * “...new policies have affected major changes in government.” The former indicates that major changes were made as a result of new policies, while the latter indicates that before new policies, major changes were in place, and that the new policies had some influence over these existing changes. The verbal noun uses of affect'' are distinguished from the verbal noun uses of ''effect'' more clearly than the regular verb forms. An ''affect'' is something that acts or acted upon something else. However, an ''effect is the result of an action (by something else).
Synonyms
* (influence or alter) alter, change, have an effect on, have an impact on, influence * (move to emotion) move, touch * (infect) attack
Derived terms
* affectingly
Etymology 2
From (etyl) (see Etymology 1, above).
Verb
(en verb)
(obsolete) To aim for, to try to obtain.

* Dryden

This proud man affects imperial sway.

* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.10:

From that day forth she gan to him affect , / And daily more her favour to augment […].

*, I.2.4.vii:

A young gentlewoman in Basil was marriedto an ancient man against her will, whom she could not affect ; she was continually melancholy, and pined away for grief […].

* 1663 , (Samuel Butler), :

But when he pleased to show 't, his speech / In loftiness of sound was rich; / A Babylonish dialect, / Which learned pedants much affect .

* Fuller

As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected than affected , rather honoured than loved, her.

(obsolete) To show a fondness for (something); to choose.

*1603 , (John Florio), translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , III.9:

*:Amongst humane conditions this one is very common, that we are rather pleased with strange things then with our owne; we love changes, affect alterations, and like innovations.

* Shakespeare

For he does neither affect company, nor is he fit for it, indeed.

* Hazlitt

Do not affect the society of your inferiors in rank, nor court that of the great.

To make a show of; to put on a pretence of; to feign; to assume. To make a false display of.

to affect ignorance

He managed to affect a smile despite feeling quite miserable.

* Congreve

Careless she is with artful care, / Affecting to seem unaffected.

* Shakespeare

Thou dost affect my manners.

Synonyms
* (make a false display of) fake, simulate, feign
Derived terms
* affected * affectedly * affectedness * affectation
Etymology 3
(etyl) affect, from (etyl) affectus,
Noun
(en noun)
(obsolete) One's mood or inclination; mental state.

(obsolete) A desire, an appetite.

(psychology) A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs.

* 1999 , Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams , Oxford 2008, p. 62:

if we are afraid of robbers in a dream, the robbers are certainly imaginary, but the fear is real. This draws our attention to the fact that the development of affects in dreams is not amenable to the judgement we make of the rest of the dream-content [...].

* 2004 , Jeffrey Greenberg & Thomas A Pyszczynski, Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology , p. 407:

A third study demonstrated that the effects of self-affirmation on self-regulated performance were not due to positive affect .

Usage notes
Affect'' and effect can both be used as nouns or verbs, but when used as a noun the word ''affect'' is limited to the above psychology uses and the definitions for ''effect are much more common. See also the above.
Derived terms
* affect display * flat affect * labile affect
Related terms
* affecter * affective * affection * affectionate
References
* * English heteronyms English words affected by confusion