footspurs

Noun

footspur (plural footspurs)

1. A foothill that shoots from a mountain or range in a perpendicular direction.
   • A footspur of Tantalus Hill seeks ineffectually to bar the entrance to Manoa's grateful shades and inviting solitudes.1865, H. WIllis Baxley, What I Saw on the West Coast of South and North America, page 523
2. A crosspiece on a boat against which the rower braces his or her feet; stretcher.
   • My sickness was gone like a flash; I seized the oar, made a footspur of Don Sly's back, and, all pulling steadily, we held our our own till the squall spent itself and then we shot out of the ground swell, and headed across the bay.1882, Thomas Ainge Devyr, The Odd Book of the Nineteenth Century, Or, "Chivalry" in Modern Days, page 53
3. A spur or spike projecting from the foot, such as that worn to prod a horse, or that occurring naturally on some birds, such as roosters.
   • Slag here lifted the footspur to dash its brains out, as he had been enjoined; but the type of harmlessness, being now rested, escaped its new, and, shall we say, more irrational enemy, by flight.1855, Andrew Douglas, History of the Village of Ferryden, page 14