Also 7 spirie. [f. SPIRE sb.1]
1. Of grass or other plants, stems, etc.: Forming slender pointed shoots.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 56. The middle part of the Shire … beareth Heath and Spirie Grasse.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 592. As for the Leaues, their Density appeareth, in that, either they are Smooth and Shining,… Or in that they are Hard and Spiry.
1703. Rowe, Ulyss., II. i. When ev’ry spiry Grass, and painted Flow’r, Is hung with pearly Drops of Heav’nly Rain.
1764. Museum Rust., I. 453. The oat-stubble, the sedge, or long lowland spiry grass.
1794. Gisborne, Walks in Forest, vi. (1796), 101. Spiry rushes in divergent files Rise fledged with rime.
1805–6. Cary, Dante, Inf., II. 129. As florets … Rise all unfolded on their spiry stems.
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., vii. 232. Waving with a crop of long spiry grass.
1865. R. St. John Tyrwhitt, in Cornh. Mag., May, 629. The spiry reed, that bare … The sponge of vinegar and gall.
b. Of trees: Rising in a slender tapering form without much branching.
1664. Evelyn, Pomona, viii. 20. If the top, prove spiry, or the fruit unkind, then the due remedy must be in re-graffing.
1712. Pope, Messiah, 74. Waste sandy Vallies … The spiry Fir and shapely Box adorn.
1740. Dyer, Ruins Rome, 54. Thro’ spiry cypress groves, and tow’ring pine.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 570. The spiry myrtle … Shines there, and flourishes.
1814. Wordsw., Laodamia, 169. A knot of spiry trees for ages grew From out the tomb.
1843. trans. Custine’s Empire of Czar, II. 279. The marshes with their spiry pines and stunted birches.
1879. Stevenson, Trav. Cévennes (1886), 125. A range of meadows, set with spiry poplars.
Comb. 1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 105. Firs, or pines, or other spiry topped trees.
2. Having the characteristic form of a spire; tapering up to a point: a. Of parts of buildings.
1664. Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Archit., 140. Pinnæ and Batlements were made sometimes more sharp, Towring or Spiry.
1703. [R. Neve], City & C. Purchaser, 2. Sharp and spiry Battlements, or Pinacles.
a. 1748. Thomson, Hymn Solitude, vii. I just may cast my careless eyes Where London’s spiry turrets rise.
1803. Jane Porter, Thaddeus (1826), III. xi. 244. The spiry aisles of Harrowby-Abbey were discernible through the mist.
1823. Gifford, in Q. Rev., XXIX. 369. The village church, with its spiry steeple.
b. Of hills, rocks, etc.
1694. E. Chamberlayne, Pres. St. Eng. (ed. 18), I. 35. Carnarvanshire…, with spiry Hills, the highest in all Wales.
1786. W. Gilpin, Mount. & Lakes Cumberland, II. 229. A solitary rock, tho spiry, has often a good effect.
1811. Pinkerton, Mod. Geogr. (ed. 3), 281. The spiry pinnacles of rock that rear themselves from among the perpetual snows … of the higher Alps.
1840. F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., II. 45. Two spiry cliffs … bound the lake on opposite sides.
1889. Science-Gossip, XXV. 205/1. The sea … leaving on the outskirts … numerous stacks, islets, and spiry rocks.
c. In miscellaneous applications.
1716. Gay, Trivia, III. 358. The spiry Flames now lift aloft their Heads.
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 175. A stream of curling smoke, ascending blue, And spiry tops.
1789. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard. (1791), I. 99. Loud o’er the camp the Fiend of Famine shrieks,… High-poised in air her spiry neck she bends.
1805. J. Luccock, Nature Wool, 306. Some samples … were very kempy, with coarse and spiry tops to the staple.
1819. H. Busk, Vestriad, V. 468. Spiry lance of dark and polish’d wood.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. V. 283. Soon the climbing spiry flashes Set the tree-tops in a glow.
3. Of form: Resembling that of a spire.
1777. G. Forster, Voy. round World, I. 253. The mountains, clothed with forests, rose majestic in various spiry forms.
1789. Charlotte Smith, Ethelinde (1814), V. 214. A group of yew and cypress relieved, by their spiry form, the more solid and regular mass of stone.
1842. Selby, Brit. Forest-Trees, 521. When young, the Cedar … presents a pyramidal or spiry form.
1865. Geikie, Scen. & Geol. Scot., viii. 219. The height and the angular spiry forms of the mountain ridges.
4. Of places: Full of spires; spire-crowned.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 952. Spiry towns by surging columns mark’d Of household smoke.
1756. Dyer, Fleece, I. 50. The leas And ruddy tilth which spiry Ross beholds.
1843. Ruskin, Mod. Paint. (1860), V. VIII. iv. § 10. 189. The group of spires, without it, would not … give a proper impression of Lausanne, as a spiry place.
1889. Stevenson, Edinburgh, 180. The spiry habitable city.
5. slang. Highly distinguished.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. I. 229. Mr. Abberly used to think it quite spiry to wear a white hat and sit upon the coach-box and drive them himself on Sundays.
6. Characterized by slenderness or slimness of growth or form.
1852. R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour, xx. 99. The light spiry ease of an animal full of strength and running.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, I. XI. i. 97/1. It would be impossible … to distinguish a large spiry foxhound from one of the smallest and lightest of her Majesty’s beautiful pack [of staghounds].
