"Spur of the Moment" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 03/07/2021

0:00 - How to Say, “Spur of the moment.”
0:18 - Examples of “Spur of the moment.”
1:03 - Meaning of “Spur of the moment.”
1:20 - Origin of “Spur of the moment.”
3:19 - More Examples of “Spur of the moment.”
4:02 - Conclusion

“Spur of the moment.”

If you do something on the “spur of the moment”, you’re doing it impulsively, without planning, without thinking about it, with no forethought.

“We decided to take this roadtrip on the spur of the moment, so we don’t really know where we’re headed!” your teenagers might tell you over the phone.

Maybe you’re asking your friend why she quit her job, “I was fed up! It was a spur-of-the-moment decision and I’m glad that I did it!”

“Let’s find a place to eat when we get downtown, I like deciding spur of the moment,” your friend might say as you guys head out for dinner.

As you can see, if something is “spur-of-the-moment”, it’s done on a whim, done to fulfill an urge, done in the heat of the moment.

The idiom, “spur of the moment”, with its current meaning can be found in text as early as 1784…

… though, it is found as “on the spur” as far back as 1525, but in this archaic usage meant to do something rapidly, quickly, at full speed, with haste.

You see, a “spur” is a metal device with spikes worn on the heel of horse riding boots, used to poke or prod horses in the belly, signalling or “spurring” the horse to follow a trained command.

The use of spurs has a history almost as old as that of horse riding and have been used as riding aids for more than two millennia.

The riding aids known as spurs were probably so named because in Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, “spura” and “spora” meant to kick, to spurn…

… “spurn”, though with only a letter’s difference, means something quite different from “spur”; spurn means to reject, rebuff, repudiate, turn down, turn away, brush off.

If you choose to do something “on the spur of the moment”, maybe take a moment or two to think about it - you don’t want to regret a hasty decision!

“It was so hot yesterday that I decided to get my head shaved on the spur of the moment,” your partner might be explaining why he got such a haircut.

Perhaps your kid is suddenly home from college, “On the spur of the moment, I decided that I should come back home for a visit!”

“It was very spur-of-the-moment, I now kind of regret getting my car painted pink!” your friend might be telling you.

So, the next time you do something impulsively, suddenly, without planning, without thinking, just say that it was on the “spur of the moment”.

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References: https://wordhistories.net/2017/10/30/spur-of-the-moment/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spur