Spired

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Definitions

1. Having given rise to or produced a spiral shape or form ; having risen or extended upward in a tapering, conical, or pointed manner ; having exhibited or shown characteristics of a spiral or helix structure
2. Characterized by the formation or presence of spirals ; having grown or ascended in a winding or curved fashion ; having displayed or possessed a coiled or twisting configuration
3. Manifesting or developing a spiral arrangement or pattern ; having elongated or projected upward with a narrowing shape ; having demonstrated the properties or appearance of winding turns or loops

Etymology: "Spired" is simply "spire" with the suffix "-ed" attached, and the two parts carry the meaning. "Spire" comes from the Old English "spir," a stalk or blade of grass, and its sense of a pointed tower top or a coiled, tapering form grew out of that image of something thin rising to a point. Adding "-ed" turns the noun into an adjective or past-tense verb describing something that has been given, or has taken on, that shape. The adjective senses follow the older meaning of a sprouting stem. Something "spired" is shaped like a spiral or winds upward in a curve, the way a climbing plant or a twisted column of smoke does. The verb sense, which describes something that has risen or coiled in this way, follows the same logic: the object has taken the form of a spire, with its narrowing, upward-winding line.

Synonyms: tapered, pointed, conical, towered, peaked

Antonyms: flat, blunt, leveled, rounded, dull