Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Spire

Spire , intransitive verb

[Latin spirare to breathe. See Spirit.]

To breathe. [Obsolete] — Shenstone

Spire , noun

[Old English spire, spir, a blade of grass, a young shoot, Anglo-Saxon spīr; akin to German spier a blade of grass, Danish spire a sprout, sprig, Swedish spira a spar, Icelandic spīra.]

1.
A slender stalk or blade in vegetation; as, a spire grass or of wheat.
An oak cometh up a little spire. — Chaucer
2.
(Architecture) A tapering body that shoots up or out to a point in a conical or pyramidal form. Specifically (Architecture), the roof of a tower when of a pyramidal form and high in proportion to its width; also, the pyramidal or aspiring termination of a tower which can not be said to have a roof, such as that of Strasburg cathedral; the tapering part of a steeple, or the steeple itself.
With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned. — Milton
A spire of land that stand apart, Cleft from the main. — Tennyson
Tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells Just undulates upon the listening ear. — Cowper
3.
(Mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the chargen in blasting.
4.
The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
The spire and top of praises. — Shakespeare

Spire , intransitive verb

To shoot forth, or up in, or as if in, a spire. — Emerson
It is not so apt to spire up as the other sorts, being more inclined to branch into arms. — Mortimer

Spire , noun

[Latin spira coil, twist; akin to Greek {not transcribed}: compare French spire.]

1.
A spiral; a curl; a whorl; a twist. — Dryden
2.
(Geometry) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole. See Spiral, n.
Collocations (1)
Spire bearer (Paleontology) , Same as Spirifer.