Dictionary

put spurs to en · VERB

Meanings

1. To prod (a mount) with spurs.
   • It is needless to say the officer put spurs to his horse to escape the fate of the two-year-old steer before described. 1926, Mildred Lewis Rutherford, Miss Rutherford's Scrap Book, page 16:
   • He would approach the object slowly and cautiously, and, when very near it, would put spurs to his horse and dash by. 1884, Hezekiah Butterworth, Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands, page 48:
   • Major Smith describes himself as feeling a little out of place, mounted, as he was, on a government mule. With his command, he put spurs to his animal, and galloped away over rough ground, beyond reach of the dragoons. 1888 August, R.W. Young, “The Nauvoo Legion”, in The Contributor, volume 9, number 10, page 369:
2. To prod into greater activity, speed, or diligence.
   • But interest is prejudicial to beauty as soon as it oversteps this limit; and this is the case if we are so led away by the interest of a work that whenever we come to any detailed description in a novel, or any lengthy reflection on the part of a character in a drama, we grow impatient and want to put spurs to our author, so that we may follow the development of events with greater speed. 1990, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc, Gateway to the Great Books, page 149:
   • Do these things, and your bargain department will not only earn you money on its own investment, but it will put spurs to every department throughout your store. 1906, “The Bargain Counter”, in Notions and Fancy Goods, volume 40, page 49:
   • They think this last remark is more likely to put spurs to his Holiness than any other . 1899, Great Britain. Public Record Office, Calendar of Letters and State Papers Relating to English Affairs, page 85:
   • I congratulate you on your memory of what is past, whence I confess that you have put spurs to my almost weary pen. 1873, William Stubbs, A Translation of Such Documents as are Untranslated in Dr. Stubbs' Select Charters from the Earliest Times to the Conclusion of Edward the First's Reign, page 121:
3. To speed up.
   • The greater the danger is, it ought to be so far from being a remora, as to put spurs to our speedy resolutions in this great affair. 1763, Debates of the House of Commons from 1667 to 1694, page 18:
   • In this regard, it is most important that the Government get its macroeconomic house in order, balance the budget, and put spurs to exports rather than imports. 1984, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture, Long-term Farm Policy to Succeed the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981, page 94:
   • We must put spurs to the general onward march for glorifying this meaningful year [2012, the one hundredth anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth and the year when North Korea was supposed to become a kangsong taeguk or “great power”]. 2015, Ralph Hassig, Kongdan Oh, The Hidden People of North Korea, page 32:

Forms

Synonyms

set spurs to