spiry

¹ American  

[spahyuhr-ee] / ˈspaɪər i /

adjective

1. having the form of a spire, slender shoot, or tapering pointed body; tapering up to a point like a spire.

2. abounding in spires or steeples.

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spiry ² American  

[spahy-ree] / ˈspaɪ ri /

adjective

1. spiral; coiled; coiling; helical.

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spiry British  

/ ˈspaɪərɪ /

adjective

1. poetic of spiral form; helical

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Etymology

Origin of spiry¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; spire ¹ + -y ¹

Origin of spiry²

First recorded in 1670–80; spire ² + -y ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spiry

Beneath these spiry, crowding trees one has only "the twilight of the forest noon."

From Wild Life on the Rockies by Enos Abijah Mills

Churches rear their spiry steeples in every direction.

From Lands of the Slave and the Free Cuba, the United States, and Canada by Henry A. Murray

This place before Rouen is Darnetal, a beautiful spiry town in a valley, pronounced by the Staff of No.— A.T.

From Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915 by Anonymous

So trim and tasteful are these silvery, spiry groves one would fancy they must have been placed in position by some master landscape gardener, their regularity seeming almost conventional.

From My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

Her also next, Hovering and clamoring, he by the wing Within his spiry folds drew, and devoured.

From The Iliad of Homer Translated into English Blank Verse by William Cowper by William Cowper