Spanking breeze (Naut.), a strong breeze.
Span"less (?), a. Incapable of being spanned.
Span"ner (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, spans.
2. The lock of a fusee or carbine; also, the fusee or carbine itself.
[Obs.]
3. An iron instrument having a jaw to fit a nut or the head of a bolt,
and used as a lever to turn it with; a wrench; specifically, a wrench
for unscrewing or tightening the couplings of hose.
4. pl. A contrivance in some of the ealier steam engines for moving the
valves for the alternate admission and shutting off of the steam.
Span"-new` (?), a. [Icel. spnn&?;r, properly, new as a ship just split;
spnn chip + n&?;r new. See Spoon, and New.] Quite new; brand-new;
fire-new. "A span- new archbishop's chair." Fuller.
Span"nish*ing (?), n. [From OF. espanir to spread, F. épanou&?;. See
Expand.] The full blooming of a flower. [Obs.] Rom. of R.
Span"piece (?), n. (Arch.) The collar of a roof; sparpiece.
Span"worm` (?), n. (Zoöl.) The larva of any geometrid moth, as the
cankeworm; a geometer; a measuring worm.
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Spar (?), n. [AS. spær in spærstn chalkstone; akin to MHG. spar, G.
sparkalk plaster.] (Min.) An old name for a nonmetallic mineral,
usually cleavable and somewhat lustrous; as, calc spar, or calcite,
fluor spar, etc. It was especially used in the case of the gangue
minerals of a metalliferous vein.
Blue spar, Cube spar, etc. See under Blue, Cube, etc.
Spar, n. [OE. sparre; akin to D. spar, G. sparren, OHG. sparro, Dan.&
Sw. sparre, Icel. sparri; of uncertain origin. &?; 171. Cf. Spar, v. t.
] 1. (Naut.) A general term any round piece of timber used as a mast,
yard, boom, or gaff.
2. (Arch.) Formerly, a piece of timber, in a general sense; -- still
applied locally to rafters.