Adjective

spare (comparative sparer, superlative sparest)Category:English lemmas#SPARECategory:English adjectives#SPARECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. Extra.
   1. Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.

      I have no spare time.Category:English terms with usage examples#SPARE

      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 39:

        if that no spare cloths he had to give

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

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

      a spare anchor; a spare wheel or tyreCategory:English terms with usage examples#SPARE

   3. Not occupied or in current use.

      We could rent out the spare room.Category:English terms with usage examples#SPARE

      • 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Earth:

        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 guard dog named Kalros.

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

      • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:

        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 luxury on an XC train as normally you're playing sardines, so I make the most of it.

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

2. Not plentiful.
   1. Scant; not abundant or plentiful.

      a spare dietCategory:English terms with usage examples#SPARE

      • 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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

   2. Austere, stripped down, without what is extraneous.
      • 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Open House”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 3:

        I’m naked to the bone,
        With nakedness my shield.
        Myself is what I wear:
        I keep the spirit spare.

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

   3. Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; not spending much money.
      • 1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC:

        He was spare, […] but discreet of speech.

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

      • 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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

   5. Lean; lacking flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.
      • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

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

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

4. (UKCategory:British English#SPARE, informalCategory:English informal terms#SPARE) Very angry; frustrated or distraught.

   When he found out that someone had broken the window, he went spare.

   Category:English terms with usage examples#SPARE

   The poor girl is going spare, stuck in the house all day with the kids like that.

   Category:English terms with usage examples#SPARE

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

     “That'll drive him spare.”

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

Noun

spare (plural spares)Category:English lemmas#SPARECategory:English nouns#SPARECategory:English countable nouns#SPARECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.
   • 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “(please specify the book number)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC:

     men slaine, then without any spare at all they trampled over the dead carkasses

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

2. Parsimony; frugal use.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 51:

     Pourd out their plenty, without spight or spare:

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

3. An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.
4. That which has not been used or expended.
5. A spare part.
   1. (especially) A spare tire.

      I stopped to help out. Do you have a spare? [Said by one motorist to another with a flat tire.]Category:English terms with usage examples#SPARE

   2. Any car part or comparable machine part in a supply chain.

      People sometimes forget that world-class logistics also involve inventory management in warehouses full of spares.Category:English terms with usage examples#SPARE

6. A superfluous or second-best person.

   Coordinate terms: also-ranCategory:English links with manual fragments#SPARE, third wheelCategory:English links with manual fragments#SPARE

   an heir and a spare (dynastic context)Category:English terms with collocations#SPARE

   • 2023, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex; J. R. Moehringer, Spare‎, Penguin Random House, →ISBN:

     The whole Heir versus Spare thing? Wasn't it a bit late for that tired childhood dynamic?

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

7. (bowlingCategory:en:Bowling#SPARE) 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. (bowlingCategory:en:Bowling#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.
9. (CanadaCategory:Canadian English#SPARE) A free period; 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

10. (MyanmarCategory:Myanmar English#SPARE) assistant or extra hand (typically on buses and lorries)

Verb

spare (third-person singular simple present spares, present participle sparing, simple past and past participle spared)Category:English lemmas#SPARECategory:English verbs#SPARECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. To show mercy, to have mercy on.
   1. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#SPARE) To desist; to stop; to refrain.
   2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#SPARE) To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance.
   3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#SPARE) To preserve (someone) from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm (someone); to show mercy towards.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 6:34:

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

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

      • 1949 September and October, “The "Nord Express"”, in Railway Magazine, page 336:

        Cologne Hauptbahnhof is reached in the small hours, and the traveller new to postwar Germany is spared the sight of the devastated city.

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

      1. (specifically) To refrain from killing (someone) or having (someone) killed.
         • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

           Kill me, if you please, or spare me.

           Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

         • 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “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.

           Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

         • 2021 August 16, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: SCP-6002 - All Creatures Great and Small” (19:06 from the start), in The Exploring Series‎, archived from the original on 10 January 2023:

           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 authorization, removing the disease from the genome. She's detained and questioned by Muller, and, even though she tries to lie that she didn't do anything, they have footage of her ascending the tree on her own. Muller tells her that she can't just take it upon herself to decide what's best, as who knows what would've happened if she had made a mistake. She proceeds to cuss him out, and he gives her a choice, telling her that if she apologizes now, he'll put in a good word for her with the O5 Council, which might spare her. She's silent for a moment, but does end up apologizing.

           Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

2. To keep.
   1. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#SPARE) To be frugal; to not 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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

   2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#SPARE) To keep to oneself; to forbear to impart or give.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

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

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

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

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

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

   3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#SPARE) 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

        Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#SPARE) (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 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:

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

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:

     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 perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

   • 1960 April, “Talking of Trains: The present difficulties”, in Trains Illustrated, page 193:

     At Southall, we believe, it has been difficult to spare men from an understaffed motive power establishment to undergo non revenue-earning training on the diesel multiple-units, because crews are scarce for trip freight working.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SPARE

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɛːr/, [ˈsb̥ɛɐ̯], [ˈsb̥æɐ̯]Category:Danish terms with IPA pronunciation#SPARE

Noun

spare c (singular definite sparen, plural indefinite spare or spares)Category:Danish lemmas#SPARECategory:Danish nouns#SPARECategory:Danish entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Danish common-gender nouns#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. (bowlingCategory:da:Bowling#SPARE) spare (the act of knocking down all remaining pins in second ball of a frame)

References

• “spare,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spaːrə/, [ˈsb̥ɑːɑ]Category:Danish terms with IPA pronunciation#SPARE
• Homophones: sparer, sparre, sparrerCategory:Danish terms with homophones#SPARE

Verb

spare (past tense sparede, past participle sparet)Category:Danish lemmas#SPARECategory:Danish verbs#SPARECategory:Danish entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

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

References

• “spare,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɛːr/Category:Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation#SPARE
• Hyphenation: spare
• Rhymes: -ɛːrCategory:Rhymes:Dutch/ɛːr#SPARECategory:Rhymes:Dutch/ɛːr/1 syllable#SPARE

Noun

spare m (plural spares, no diminutive)Category:Dutch lemmas#SPARECategory:Dutch nouns#SPARECategory:Dutch nouns with plural in -s#SPARECategory:Dutch entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Dutch masculine nouns#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. (bowlingCategory:nl:Bowling#SPARE) spare

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspaː.rə/Category:Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation#SPARE

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Dutch terms with audio pronunciation#SPARE
• Hyphenation: spa‧re
• Rhymes: -aːrəCategory:Rhymes:Dutch/aːrə#SPARECategory:Rhymes:Dutch/aːrə/2 syllables#SPARE

Verb

spareCategory:Dutch non-lemma forms#SPARECategory:Dutch verb forms#SPARECategory:Dutch entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of sparen

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spaʁ/Category:French 1-syllable words#SPARECategory:French terms with IPA pronunciation#SPARE

Noun

spare m (plural spares)Category:French lemmas#SPARECategory:French nouns#SPARECategory:French countable nouns#SPARECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:French masculine nouns#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. a fish of the superorder Acanthopterygii

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɛʁ/Category:French 1-syllable words#SPARECategory:French terms with IPA pronunciation#SPARE

Noun

spare m (plural spares)Category:French lemmas#SPARECategory:French nouns#SPARECategory:French countable nouns#SPARECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:French masculine nouns#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. (bowlingCategory:fr:Bowling#SPARE) a spare

Noun

spareCategory:Middle English lemmas#SPARECategory:Middle English nouns#SPARECategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. alternative form of sparre

Verb

spareCategory:Middle English lemmas#SPARECategory:Middle English verbs#SPARECategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#SPARECategory:Pages with entries#SPARECategory:Pages with 9 entries#SPARE

1. alternative form of sparren (“to close”)

Derived terms

• sparebank