Spur vs. Spurn — What's the Difference?

A stimulus or incentive.

To turn away from.

To encourage or prompt to action.

To reject with disdain.

To urge or drive forward.

To refuse to accept or consider.

A projecting part or extension.

To scorn or despise.

A device worn on a rider's heel.

To kick or trample disdainfully.

A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to back up the natural aids (the leg, seat, hands, and voice).

Spurn is a narrow sand tidal island located off the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber Estuary. It was a spit with a semi-permanent connection to the mainland, but a storm in 2013 made the road down to the end of Spurn impassable to vehicles at high tide.The island is over 3 miles (5 km) long, almost half the width of the estuary at that point, and as little as 50 yards (46 m) wide in places.

A device with a small spike or a spiked wheel that is worn on a rider's heel and used for urging a horse forward.

Reject with disdain or contempt

A thing that prompts or encourages someone; an incentive

An act of spurning

A projection from a mountain or mountain range

To reject with disdain or contempt. ]

A small, single-pointed support for ceramic ware in a kiln.

(ambitransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.

Urge (a horse) forward by digging one's spurs into its sides

(transitive) To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.

Give an incentive or encouragement to (someone)

(transitive) To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)

Prune in (a side shoot of a plant) so as to form a spur close to the stem

To kick or toss up the heels.

A short spike or spiked wheel that attaches to the heel of a rider's boot and is used to urge a horse forward.

An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.

An incentive

A kick; a blow with the foot.

A spinelike process on the leg of some birds.

(obsolete) Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.

A climbing iron; a crampon.

(mining) A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.

A gaff attached to the leg of a gamecock.

To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick.

A short or stunted branch of a tree.

To reject with disdain; to scorn to receive or accept; to treat with contempt.

A bony outgrowth or protuberance.

To kick or toss up the heels.

A lateral ridge projecting from a mountain or mountain range.

To manifest disdain in rejecting anything; to make contemptuous opposition or resistance.

An oblique reinforcing prop or stay of timber or masonry.

A kick; a blow with the foot.

(Botany) A tubular or saclike extension of the corolla or calyx of a flower, as in a columbine or larkspur.

Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.

An ergot growing on rye.

A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.

A spur track.

Reject with contempt;

To urge (a horse) on by the use of spurs.

To incite or stimulate

To ride quickly by spurring a horse.

A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.

A jab given with the spurs.

(figurative) Anything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does a horse.

An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster.

Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city.

Roots, tree roots.

(geology) A mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.

A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber.

(carpentry) A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.

(architecture) The short wooden buttress of a post.

(architecture) A projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage.

Ergotized rye or other grain.

A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.

(shipbuilding) A piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.

(shipbuilding) A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed.

(mining) A branch of a vein.

(rail transport) A very short branch line of a railway line.

(transport) A short branch road of a motorway, freeway or major road.

(botany) A short thin side shoot from a branch, especially one that bears fruit or, in conifers, the shoots that bear the leaves.

A tern.

(electronics) A spurious tone, one that interferes with a signal in a circuit and is often masked underneath that signal.

(transitive) To prod (especially a horse) on the side or flank, with the intent to urge motion or haste, to gig.

(transitive) To urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object

(transitive) To put spurs on.

(intransitive) To press forward; to travel in great haste.

To form a spur senses 17-18 of the noun

A sparrow.

An implement secured to the heel, or above the heel, of a horseman, to urge the horse by its pressure. Modern spurs have a small wheel, or rowel, with short points. Spurs were the badge of knighthood.

That which goads to action; an incitement.

Something that projects; a snag.

One of the large or principal roots of a tree.

Any stiff, sharp spine, as on the wings and legs of certain birds, on the legs of insects, etc.; especially, the spine on a cock's leg.

A mountain that shoots from any other mountain, or range of mountains, and extends to some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.

A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale, to strip off the blubber.

A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.

The short wooden buttress of a post.

Any projecting appendage of a flower looking like a spur.

A wall that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.

A piece of timber fixed on the bilge ways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.

A branch of a vein.

The track of an animal, as an otter; a spoor.

To prick with spurs; to incite to a more hasty pace; to urge or goad; as, to spur a horse.

To urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object; to incite; to stimulate; to instigate; to impel; to drive.

To put spurs on; as, a spurred boot.

To spur on one's horse; to travel with great expedition; to hasten; hence, to press forward in any pursuit.

A verbalization that encourages you to attempt something;

Any pointed projection

Tubular extension at the base of the corolla in some flowers

A sharp prod fixed to a rider's heel and used to urge a horse onward;

A railway line connected to a trunk line

Incite or stimulate;

Give heart or courage to

Strike with a spur

Goad with spurs;

Equip with spurs;

In business, spur can refer to strategies or incentives designed to boost productivity or innovation.

To spur someone means to motivate or encourage them to act or proceed.

In literature, spurn is often used to describe characters rejecting others' advances or societal expectations disdainfully.

Yes, spurn is inherently negative as it involves rejection or refusal with contempt.

While generally positive, spur can be negative if it involves pressuring someone towards unwanted actions.

The word 'spur' originates from Old English 'spura', related to spurring or urging forward.

Spur implies encouraging immediate or continued action, but the response may not be instantaneous.

While spurn implies disdain, one can reject an offer politely, though it would typically not be described as spurning.

'Spurn' comes from Old English 'spurnan', meaning to kick or reject.

Yes, objects, suggestions, and ideas can all be spurned, typically indicating rejection of their value or utility.

A spur in its physical form is a metal device attached to a rider's boot, used to prod a horse forward.