An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language / in which the words are explained in their different senses, authorized by the names of the writers by whom they are used, or the titles of the works in which they occur, and deduced from their originals

by John Jamieson

Henrysone.
2. The interior apartment of a country-house, S.
3. The place where the family sit at meat, S. B.
Pop. Ball.

Spens, Spensar, Spensere, s. The clerk of a kitchen.
Wyntown.

To SPERE, SPEIR, SPYRE, v. n.
1. To search out.
Barbour.

A. S. spyr-ian, investigare.

2. To investigate.
Barbour.
3. To ask, to inquire, S.
Douglas.

A. S. spyr-ian, Isl. spyr-ia, to inquire. In this general sense, it is used in various forms.

To speir at, to interrogate, S.

Isl. spyr-ia ad, id.

To speir after, to inquire for, S.

A. S. spyrian aefter.