speer
verb (used with or without object)
to ask; inquire.
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speer
1 American
[speer]
/ spɪər /
Or
speir,
verb (used with or without object)
Speer
2
American
[speer, shpeyr ]
/ spɪər, ʃpeɪr /
noun
Etymology
Origin of speer
before 900; Middle English speren, spiren, Old English spyrian to make tracks, trace, ask about; cognate with German spüren, Old Norse spyrja to ask; akin to spoor
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa fingers when they saw him, to guard against the evil eye.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
An’ a’ the time we could no speer a thing.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
"But what is't, woman, if I may speer?"
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 15 by Various
Then I went up to the little bit o’ broken glass that was nailed to the wa’ to speer what like I was.
From Seven Frozen Sailors by Fenn, George Manville
"And wha may they be noo, if I may speer?"
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 21 by Leighton, Alexander
The New Reich Chancellery, built by Hitler's favourite architect Albert Speer, was severely damaged at the end of World War Two and then torn down by order of the Soviet forces in 1949.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Architect Albert Speer later claimed that he always knew it would be impossible to build something that big in the swampy soil of central Berlin.
From Salon ● May 3, 2026
Speer was given a 20-year prison sentence while Fritz Sauckel, Hitler’s general plenipotentiary for labor mobilization, was hanged for almost exactly the same crimes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
About his famous confidence when seated face-to-face with intimidating subjects — one interview was with Albert Speer, Hitler’s chief architect and minister of armaments — Ophuls was characteristically candid and self-effacing.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2025
Ellis Speer was saying, “How far are we from Pennsylvania, Colonel, you have any idea?”
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
