spare

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛəɹ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

From Middle English spare, spar, from Old English spær (“sparing, scant”), from Proto-Germanic *sparaz (compare with Dutch spaar(zaam), German spar(sam) and spär(lich), Swedish spar(sam), Icelandic sparr (“sparing”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (compare Latin (pro)sperus (“lucky”), Old Church Slavonic споръ (sporŭ, “plentiful”), Albanian shperr (“earn money”), Persian سپار‎ (sepār, “entrust; deposit”), Ancient Greek σπαρνός (sparnós, “rare”), Sanskrit स्फिर (sphirá, “thick”)).

spare (comparative sparer, superlative sparest)

1. Scanty; not abundant or plentiful.

   a spare diet

   • 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     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 at the character’s core.

2. Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; chary.
   • (Can we date this quote by Carew?)

     He was spare, but discreet of speech.

   • 2009 April 12, Phil Patton, “At VW, the Italian Accent Gets Stronger”, in New York Times‎:

     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 points for the neomodern simplicity of the iPod.

3. Being over and above what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.

   I have no spare time.

   • (Can we date this quote by Spenser?)

     if that no spare clothes he had to give

4. Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.

   a spare anchor; a spare bed or room

5. Lean; wanting flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.

6. (Britain, informal) Mad: angry or crazy.

   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.

   • 2006, Tate Hallaway, Tall, Dark & Dead:

     “That'll drive him spare.”

   • 2013, David Ovason, The Zelator

     My grandfather (unaware that he was using antique terms) would often say ruefully that I would drive him spare. The idea was that my behaviour would so dement him as to drive him berserk.

7. (obsolete, Britain, dialectal) Slow.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)

spare (plural spares)

1. The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.
   • Holland

     Killing for sacrifice, without any spare.

2. Parsimony; frugal use.
   • Spenser

     Poured out their plenty without spite or spare.

3. An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.
4. That which has not been used or expended.
5. A spare part, especially a spare tire.
6. A superfluous or second-best person, specially (in a dynastic context) in the phrase "An heir and a spare".
7. (bowling) 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.
8. (bowling) 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.
9. (Canada) A block of school during which one does not have a class.
   • 2010, Sandra Rinomato, Realty Check: Real Estate Secrets for First-Time Canadian Home Buyers

     I also remember watching David Letterman's short-lived morning show on TV when I had a spare during my school schedule.

From Middle English sparen, sparien, from Old English sparian (“to spare, show mercy to, refrain from injuring or destroying”), from Proto-Germanic *sparōną, *sparjaną (“to save, keep, spare”), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to be productive, earn”). Cognate with Scots spar, spare, spair (“to spare”), West Frisian sparje (“to save, spare”), Dutch sparen (“to save, spare”), German sparen (“to save, conserve, economise”), Swedish spara (“to save, save up”), Icelandic spara (“to save, conserve”).

spare (third-person singular simple present spares, present participle sparing, simple past and past participle spared)

1. To show mercy.
   1. (intransitive) To desist; to stop; to refrain.
   2. (intransitive) To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance.
   3. (transitive) To preserve from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm; to show mercy.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Proverbs 6:34:

        For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

      • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

        Kill me, if you please, or spare me.

      • 2012 August 21, Pilkington, Ed, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:

        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 should be spared execution by lethal injection.

2. To keep.
   1. (intransitive) To be frugal; not to be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious.
      • 1737, Alexander Pope, The Second Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, Imitated by Mr. Pope:

        I, who at some times spend, at others spare, / Divided between carelessness and care.

   2. (transitive) To keep to oneself; to forbear to impart or give.

      Spare the rod and spoil the child.

      • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

        Thou that day / Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Proverbs 17:27:

        He that hath knowledge, spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

   3. (transitive) To save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some occupation, use, or duty.
      • 1610, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, from the First Beginning of that Nation‎, page 580:

        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

3. (transitive) (to give up): To deprive oneself of, as by being frugal; to do without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with.
   • a. 1779, Earl of Roscommon, “The Twenty-second Ode of the First Book of Horace”:

     Where angry Jove did never spare / One breath of kind and temperate air.

   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The History of Henry the Fourth (Part 1), Act V, scene iv:

     Poor Jack, farewell! / I could have better spared a better man

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.

• Asper, Earps, Pears, Peras, RESPA, Rapes, Spear, Spera, apers, apres, après, aprés, as per, asper, pares, parse, pears, prase, presa, præs., rapes, reaps, sarpe, spear

From English spare.

• IPA^(key): /spɛːr/, [ˈsb̥æːɐ̯]

spare c (singular definite sparen, plural indefinite spare or spares)

1. (bowling) spare (the act of knocking down all remaining pins in second ball of a frame)

From Old Norse spara.

• IPA^(key): /spaːrə/, [ˈsb̥ɑːɑ]

spare (imperative spar, infinitive at spare, present tense sparer, past tense sparede, perfect tense er/har sparet)

1. save
2. spare
3. economize
4. save up

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spare

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of sparen

From Latin sparus

• IPA^(key): /spaʁ/

spare m (plural spares)

1. A fish of the superorder Acanthopterygii

From English spare

• IPA^(key): /spɛʁ/

spare m (plural spares)

1. (bowling) a spare.

• strike

spare

1. First-person singular present of sparen.
2. First-person singular subjunctive I of sparen.
3. Third-person singular subjunctive I of sparen.
4. Imperative singular of sparen.

spare

1. third-person singular present indicative of sparere

• aspre, parse, persa, presa, saper, spera

spare

1. vocative singular of sparus

From Old Norse spara

spare (imperative spar, present tense sparer, simple past sparte, past participle spart, present participle sparende)

1. to save

• sparebank

• “spare” in The Bokmål Dictionary.