/spɛə(ɹ)/, /spɛɚ/, /speː/
OriginFrom Middle English spare, spar, from Old English spær (“sparing, scant”), from Proto-Germanic *sparaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sph₁rós, from the root *speh₁-.
Compare Dutch spaar(zaam), German spar(sam) and spär(lich), Swedish spar(sam), Icelandic sparr (“sparing”); also Latin (pro)sperus (“lucky”), Old Church Slavonic споръ (sporŭ, “plentiful”), Albanian shperr (“earn money”), Persian سپار (sepâr, “entrust; deposit”), Ancient Greek σπαρνός (sparnós, “rare”), Sanskrit स्फिर (sphirá, “thick”).
- Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.
“I have no spare time.”
“if that no spare cloths he had to give”
- Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.
“a spare anchor; a spare wheel or tyre”
- Not occupied or in current use.
“We could rent out the spare room.”
“Shepard: I take it this is your first time here?
Wrex: Meant to tell you Shepard. Earth reminds me of home. Guess you'll be needing a new planet too. That's okay. Tuchanka's got room to spare and a gu”
“As the 1857 to Manchester Piccadilly rolls in, I scan the windows and realise there are plenty of spare seats, so I hop aboard. The train is a '221'+'220' combo to allow for social distancing - a luxu”
- Scant; not abundant or plentiful.
“a spare diet”
“Jones’ sad eyes betray a pervasive pain his purposefully spare dialogue only hints at, while the perfectly cast Brolin conveys hints of playfulness and warmth while staying true to the craggy stoicism”
- Austere, stripped down, without what is extraneous.
“I’m naked to the bone,
With nakedness my shield.
Myself is what I wear:
I keep the spirit spare.”
- Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; not spending much money.
“He was spare, […]but discreet of speech.”
“Under Hartmut Warkuss, its design director until 2003, Volkswagen styling celebrated its Teutonic origins and the spare modernist tradition expressed in Braun radios and coffee makers, reference point”
- Lean; lacking flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.
“O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.”
- UK, informalVery angry; frustrated or distraught.
“When he found out that someone had broken the window, he went spare.”
“The poor girl is going spare, stuck in the house all day with the kids like that.”
““That'll drive him spare.””
- The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.
“men slaine, then without any spare at all they trampled over the dead carkasses”
- Parsimony; frugal use.
“Pourd out their plenty, without spight or spare:”
- An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.
- That which has not been used or expended.
- A spare part, especially a spare tire.
- A superfluous or second-best person.
“an heir and a spare”
“The whole Heir versus Spare thing? Wasn't it a bit late for that tired childhood dynamic?”
- The right of bowling again at a full set of pins, after having knocked all the pins down in less than three bowls. If all the pins are knocked down in one bowl it is a double spare; in two bowls, a single spare.
- The act of knocking down all remaining pins in second ball of a frame; this entitles the pins knocked down on the next ball to be added to the score for that frame.
- CanadaA free period; a block of school during which one does not have a class.
“I also remember watching David Letterman's short-lived morning show on TV when I had a spare during my school schedule.”
- Myanmarassistant or extra hand (typically on buses and lorries)
- intransitiveTo desist; to stop; to refrain.
- intransitiveTo refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance.
- transitiveTo preserve (someone) from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm (someone); to show mercy towards.
“For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.”
“Cologne Hauptbahnhof is reached in the small hours, and the traveller new to postwar Germany is spared the sight of the devastated city.”
- specifically, transitiveTo refrain from killing (someone) or having (someone) killed.
“Kill me, if you please, or spare me.”
“Reggie Clemons has one last chance to save his life. After 19 years on death row in Missouri for the murder of two young women, he has been granted a final opportunity to persuade a judge that he shou”
“In April of 2009, however, the disease was found to suddenly no longer be appearing in newly-hatched chickens, and, upon review, it was discovered that Dr. Wildcat had modified 6002 without authorizat”
- intransitiveTo be frugal; to not be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious.
“I, who at some times spend, at others spare, / Divided between carelessness and care.”
- transitiveTo keep to oneself; to forbear to impart or give.
“Thou that day / Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare”
“He that hath knowledge, spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.”
- transitiveTo save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some occupation, use, or duty.
“All the time he could spare from the necessary cares of his weighty charge, from assaults, and the naturall refreshing of his body, be bestowed in praier and seruing of God”
- transitive(to give up): To deprive oneself of, as by being frugal; to do without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with.
“Where angry Jove did never spare / One breath of kind and temperate air.”
“Poor Jack, farewell! / I could have better spared a better man”
“Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.[…]Next day she[…]tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; sh”
- A surname transferred from the nickname.
Formssparer(comparative) · sparest(superlative) · spares(plural) · spares(present, singular, third-person) · sparing(participle, present) · spared(participle, past) · spared(past) · spare(infinitive) · spare(first-person, present, singular) · spared(first-person, past, singular) · spare(present, second-person, singular) · sparest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · spared(past, second-person, singular) · sparedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · spareth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · spared(past, singular, third-person) · spare(plural, present) · spared(past, plural) · spare(present, subjunctive) · spared(past, subjunctive)