spoor

[ spoor, spawr, spohr ]
See synonyms for: spoorspooredspooring on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a track or trail, especially that of a wild animal pursued as game.

verb (used with or without object)
  1. to track by or follow a spoor.

Origin of spoor

1
1815–25; <Afrikaans spoor<Dutch; cognate with Old English, Old Norse spor,German Spur;cf. speer

Other words from spoor

  • spoorer, noun

Words Nearby spoor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use spoor in a sentence

  • We followed this spoor down the rocky slope where ferns and little shrubs divided the stones.

    The Relief of Mafeking | Filson Young
  • They came at last to a low crater wall, where the spoor disappeared.

    A World Called Crimson | Darius John Granger
  • Ya, baas—a mighty big one too; das da spoor of dem antelope—See!

  • So I took up the parable, telling how I had found spoor leading to the waterhole and that here it had stopped.

    A Frontier Mystery | Bertram Mitford
  • Quickly, eagerly, I cast around for spoor, beyond the radius of the disturbed part of the ground.

    A Frontier Mystery | Bertram Mitford

British Dictionary definitions for spoor

spoor

/ (spʊə, spɔː) /


noun
  1. the trail of an animal or person, esp as discernible to the human eye

verb
  1. to track (an animal) by following its trail

Origin of spoor

1
C19: from Afrikaans, from Middle Dutch spor; related to Old English spor track, Old High German spor; see spur

Derived forms of spoor

  • spoorer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012