Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A slender spire, especially one on a church above the intersection of the nave and transept.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In fortification, the most simple kind of field-work, usually constructed at the foot of a glacis, consisting of two faces forming a salient angle pointing outward from the position taken.
  • noun In architecture, a spire; particularly, a slender spire rising from the intersection of the nave and transepts of a cathedral or large church.
  • noun In decorative art, an object resembling a spire, especially the representation of a spire in medieval carving or metal art-work.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Fort.) A simple fieldwork, consisting of two faces forming a salient angle pointing outward and open at the gorge.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete An arrow.
  • noun backgammon Any of the twenty-four points on a backgammon board.
  • noun architecture A spire or steeple, especially of Gothic style; an object emerging from the ridge of a roof.
  • noun military, fortification An earthwork consisting of two berms forming an angle with an open gorge.
  • noun fencing A method of attack with a sword (foil or épée) in which the attacker's back leg crosses in front of the front leg in the offensive move.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, arrow, flèche, from Old French, arrow, of Germanic origin; see pleu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French fleche

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Examples

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