- σπεῖρα
- σπεῖρα, ἡ,A anything twisted or wound, ποιεῖν τι οἷον σπεῖραν twist it into a ball, Hp.Morb. 2.33.2 pl., coils or spires of a serpent, S.Fr. 535 (anap.), Ar.Fr.500; πολύπλοκοι ς. E.Med.481, cf. Ion 1164: so in sg., Nic.Th.156, A.R.4.151, Arat.47,89, etc.3 rope, cord, Nic.Fr. 74.21, f.l. in Hp.Steril.235; σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις with the net's meshy folds, S.Ant.346 (lyr.); ship's cable, Plu.2.507b; padded circle used by women carrying weights on their head, Aët. 12.55; so by Atlas, Apollod.2.5.11; as a lamp-stand,
ἀρτεμισίας σ. ἐπὶ τὸν λύχνον PMag.Lond.121.601
(cf.σπειρίον 111
); round cushion, IG5(1).1390.24 (Andania, i B.C.).4 a mode of dressing the hair, Poll.2.31, 4.149.5 σ. βόειαι thongs or straps of ox-hide to guard and arm a boxer's fist, Theoc.22.80.6 knot or curl in wood, Thphr.HP5.2.3, Plin.HN16.198.7 a kind of cheesecake (al. σπῖρα), Chrysipp. Tyan. ap. Ath.14.647d.8 rounded moulding in the base of an Ionic or Corinthian column, torus, IG12.372.64, Sardis 7(1) No.181 (i A.D.), CIG2713-14 ([place name] Labranda), Poll.7.121, Vitr.3.5.3.9 Geom., anchor-ring, tore, produced by revolution of a circle about a line in its plane but not passing through the centre, Hero *Deff.97, Procl. in Euc.p.119 F.II Milit., tactical unit, in the Ptolemaic army, BGU1806.4 (i B.C.); used to translate the Roman manipulus, Plb.11.23.1, al., Str.12.3.18, Plu.Aem.17; κατὰ σπείρας,= Lat. manipulatim, Plb.3.115.12; later, cohort, Act.Ap.10.1, J.BJ3.4.2, IGRom.1.10 ([place name] Massilia), 1373 ([place name] Egypt), al., OGI208.2 (Nubia, ii A.D.), al. (gen. in this sense always σπείρης, Act.Ap. l.c., POxy.477.3 (ii A.D.), BGU73 (ii A.D.), OGIl.c., etc.).2 = θίασος, religious college or guild, gen.σπείρης IG14.925
(Portus Trajani); dat. σπείρῃ ib.977 ([place name] Rome), Inscr.Perg.319,320; nom.σπεῖρα AEM 14.28
([place name] Roumania); Lat. spira, CIL 6.261 ([place name] Rome), al. (cf. σπειράρχης).
Greek-English dictionary (Αγγλικά Ελληνικά-λεξικό). 2014.