spur 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 ba ...

is a metal instrument fastened to the heel of a horse rider. Spur or Spurs may also refer to:

Medicine

Bone spurs An exostosis, also known as a osteochondroma, is a benign chondrogenic lesions derived from aberrant cartilage from the perichondral ring. Exostoses can cause chronic pain ranging from mild to moderate, but rarely severe, depending on the shape, s ...

, a skeletal disorder forming small bony outgrowth along joint margins **

Heel spur A calcaneal spur (also known as a heel spur) is a bony outgrowth from the calcaneal tuberosity (heel bone). Calcaneal spurs are typically detected by Radiography, x-ray examination. It is a form of exostosis. When a foot is exposed to constant St ...

, a thin spike of calcification in the human foot

Organizations

* San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, a non-profit research, education, and advocacy organization *

Gruppe SPUR Gruppe SPUR was an artistic collaboration formed by the Germany, German painters Heimrad Prem, Helmut Sturm, and Hans-Peter Zimmer, and the sculptor Lothar Fischer in 1957. They published a journal of the same name ''Spur''. ''Spur'' was subjec ...

, a German artistic collaboration, and their journal of the same name * Spur Steak Ranches, a chain of steakhouses in South Africa * Spur gas, North American gas stations operated by Murphy Oil

Routes

Spur line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

, a short railway (railroad) branching from a main line *

Spur route A spur route is a short road forming a branch from a longer, more important road such as a freeway, Interstate Highway, or motorway. A Bypass route, bypass or beltway is not considered a spur route as it typically reconnects with another or the ...

, a short road branching from longer, more important route * Spur trail, a shorter

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

which branches from a longer route

Science

Spur (botany) The botanical term “spur” is given to outgrowths of tissue on different plant organs. The most common usage of the term in botany refers to nectar spurs in flowers. * nectar spur * spur (stem) * spur (leaf) See also * Fascicle *Sepal *Pe ...

, an elongated appendage of certain sepals * Spur (geology), a ridge, often one that is subordinate to a larger ridge **

Interlocking spur An interlocking spur, also known as an overlapping spur, is one of any number of projecting ridges that extend alternately from the opposite sides of the wall of a young, V-shaped valley down which a river with a winding course flows. Each of t ...

, one of any number of ridges extending alternately from the opposite sides of the wall of a young, V-shaped valley *

Spur (stem) Spurs, or brachyblasts, are short, slow growing stems with greatly shortened internodes that can bear leaves, flowers and fruit. Spurs are perennial growths and commonly arise from the leaf axils on shoots. They are common in fruit trees such as ...

, a short flower- and fruit-bearing stem on some fruit trees *

Spur (zoology) A spur is an outgrowth of bone covered in a sheath of horn found in various anatomical locations in some animals. Unlike claws or nails, which grow from the tip of the toes, spurs form from other parts of the foot, usually in connection with ...

, an outgrowth of bone covered in a sheath of horn * Spur (chemistry), a region of high concentration of reaction product

Sports

* Witbank Spurs, a defunct association football club that was based in Witbank, South Africa *

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, a football team based in London, England *

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

, a National Basketball Association team based in San Antonio, Texas, US **

Spurs Sports & Entertainment Spurs Sports & Entertainment L.L.C. (SS&E) is an American sports and entertainment organization based in San Antonio, Texas. The company owns and operates several sporting franchises including the National Basketball Association (NBA) San Antoni ...

, the company that owns the San Antonio Spurs and other sports-related assets * Chancellor's Spurs, a traveling trophy awarded to the winner of the college football game between Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Austin

Other uses

Spur (architecture) In architecture, a spur (French , German ) is the ornament carved on the angles of the base of early columns. Ornament A spur consists of a projecting claw, which, emerging from the lower torus of the base, rests on the projecting angle of the sq ...

, the ornament carved on the angles of the bases of early columns *

Spur (horse) Spur (1913–1930) was an American thoroughbred racehorse. Racing career In 1916, he won eight major races and finished second in the Belmont Stakes. At age four, he equaled the Yonkers Raceway, Empire City track record for a mile and a sixtee ...

, an American thoroughbred racehorse *

Spur (lunar crater) Spur is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in the Hadley–Apennine region. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin visited it in 1971, on the Apollo 15 mission, during Extra-vehicular activity, EVA 2. Spur was designated Geology Station 7. ...

* "Spurs" (short story), a short story by Tod Robbins that served as the basis of the film ''Freaks'' *

Spur (topography) A spur is a lateral ridge or tongue of land descending from a hill, mountain or main crest of a ridge. It can also be defined as another hill or mountain range which projects in a lateral direction from a main hill or mountain range. Examples of ...

, a mountain ridge projecting laterally from a main mountain or mountain range *

Spur (typography) Typeface anatomy describes the graphic elements that make up letters in a typeface. Strokes The ''strokes'' are the components of a letterform. Strokes may be ''straight'', as in , or ''curved'', as in . If straight, they may be ''horizont ...

, a small continuation of part of a printed letter, especially an uppercase G *

Spur (vine) In viticulture, the canopy of a grapevine includes the parts of the vine visible aboveground - the trunk, cordon, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit. The canopy plays a key role in light energy capture via photosynthesis, water use as regulated b ...

, one-year-old wood of a grapevine that is pruned back to leave just one or two buds to be used for next year's crop of grapes *

Spur, Texas Spur is a city in Dickens County, Texas, United States. The population was 863 at the 2020 census, down from 1,318 at the 2010 census. A city council resolution passed in July 2014 proclaimed Spur the "nation's first tiny house-friendly town." ...

, United States *

Spur Award Spur Awards are literary prizes given annually by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The purpose of the Spur Awards is to honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. The Spur Awards began in 1953, the same year the WWA wa ...

, an annual literary prize awarded by the Western Writers of America *

Spur Gasoline Station Spur Gasoline Station, at 201 E. Bridge St. in Cynthiana, Kentucky, was built in 1925. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. It is a one-story prefabricated building, high to its eaves, with elements of Classical R ...

, a historic building in Cynthiana, kentucky *

Spur gear Spur gears or straight-cut gears are the simplest type of gear. They consist of a cylinder or disk with teeth projecting radially. Viewing the gear at 90 degrees from the shaft length (side on) the tooth faces are straight and aligned parallel to ...

, a type of gear * SPURS National Honor Society, a collegiate sophomore honor-service society in the United States * Spurious tone or spur, a tone in an electronic circuit which interferes with a signal * The Spur, a collection of Arts and Crafts bungalows in Clifton, Christchurch, New Zealand * The Spurs, a Canadian country music group 1999–2000 *

Truncated spur A truncated spur is a spur, which is a ridge that descends towards a valley floor or coastline from a higher elevation, that ends in an inverted-V face and was produced by the erosional truncation of the spur by the action of either streams, wa ...