ˈspeering, vbl. n. Sc. and north. dial.
[f. speer v.1 Cf. spurring vbl. n.2]
1. The action of questioning or inquiring; interrogation, inquiry.
| a 1100 in Napier O.E. Glosses 132/1 Adinuentionum, ᵹesmeangum, spyrungum, axungum. a 1300 Cursor M. 27280 In spiring loke þe preist be sli. 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 568 Eftir the mete sone rais the king, Quhen he had lewyt hys speryng. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12093 He besit hym barly þe burde forto seche,..Till he aspiet hir..by speryng of othir. c 1440 York Myst. xxxiii. 64 For any spirringes in þat space no speche walde he spell. 1552–3 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 137 Anent the spering..of every wrang sen the peax bigane. 1816 Chalmers in Hanna Life (1851) II. 77, I..went through a great deal of speering and hand⁓shaking. 1892 Edin. Rev. Jan. 51 He used to reply to his son's eager ‘speerings’ by such admissions as ‘That I do not know’ [etc.]. |
2. Information obtained by inquiry. Also pl.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 490 He..lay still in the castell than, Till he gat spering at [= of] a man Of Carrick. 1814 Scott Wav. xxx, If it please my Creator, I will forthwith obtain speirings thereof. 1824 ― Redgauntlet let. xi, Ony of the hill-folk he could get speerings of. |