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Spur vs Scarp - What's the difference?

spur | scarp |

As nouns the difference between spur and scarp

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 scarp is the steep artificial slope below a fort's parapet.

As verbs the difference between spur and scarp

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 scarp is to cut, scrape, erode, or otherwise make into a scarp or escarpment.

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
    Related terms
    * (rigid implement) rowel, pryck, prick

    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.

    • scarp

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia scarp) (en noun)
  • the steep artificial slope below a fort's parapet
  • (geology) a cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge caused by erosion; the steeper side of an escarpment
  • * 2014, (Paul Salopek), Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. , National Geographic (December 2014)[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text]
    • Sweating under the sun, we scale the barren eastern scarp of the Great Rift Valley (Area B), edging carefully around controversial, razor-wired Israeli settlements (Area C).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (earth science, geography, transitive) to cut, scrape, erode, or otherwise make into a scarp or escarpment
    • to scarp the face of a ditch or a rock
    From scarped cliff and quarried stone. — Tennyson.
    Sweep ruins from the scarped mountain. — Emerson.

    Anagrams

    * * * *