put spurs to

English

Verb

put spurs to (third-person singular simple present puts spurs to, present participle putting spurs to, simple past and past participle put spurs to)

1. To prod (a mount) with spurs.

   Synonym: set spurs to

   • 1884, Hezekiah Butterworth, Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands, page 48:

     He would approach the object slowly and cautiously, and, when very near it, would put spurs to his horse and dash by.

   • 1888 August, R.W. Young, “The Nauvoo Legion”, in The Contributor, volume 9, number 10, page 369:

     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.

   • 1926, Mildred Lewis Rutherford, Miss Rutherford's Scrap Book, page 16:

     It is needless to say the officer put spurs to his horse to escape the fate of the two-year-old steer before described.

2. To prod into greater activity, speed, or diligence.
   • 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:

     I congratulate you on your memory of what is past, whence I confess that you have put spurs to my almost weary pen.

   • 1899, Great Britain. Public Record Office, Calendar of Letters and State Papers Relating to English Affairs, page 85:

     They think this last remark is more likely to put spurs to his Holiness than any other .

   • 1906, “The Bargain Counter”, in Notions and Fancy Goods, volume 40, page 49:

     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.

   • 1990, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc, Gateway to the Great Books, page 149:

     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.

3. To speed up.
   • 1763, Debates of the House of Commons from 1667 to 1694, page 18:

     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.

   • 1984, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture, Long-term Farm Policy to Succeed the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981, page 94:

     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.

   • 2015, Ralph Hassig, Kongdan Oh, The Hidden People of North Korea, page 32:

     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”].

Further reading

• “put spurs to”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.