Free translatorFree translator
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Spare   /spɛr/   Listen
adjective
Spare  adj.  (compar. sparer; superl. sparest)  
1.
Scanty; not abundant or plentiful; as, a spare diet.
2.
Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; chary. "He was spare, but discreet of speech."
3.
Being over and above what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous; as, I have no spare time. "If that no spare clothes he had to give."
4.
Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency; as, a spare anchor; a spare bed or room.
5.
Lean; wanting flesh; meager; thin; gaunt. "O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones."
6.
Slow. (Obs. or prov. Eng.)



verb
Spare  v. t.  (past & past part. spared; pres. part. sparing)  
1.
To use frugally or stintingly, as that which is scarce or valuable; to retain or keep unused; to save. "No cost would he spare." "(Thou) thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare." "He that hath knowledge, spareth his words."
2.
To keep to one's self; to forbear to impart or give. "Be pleased your plitics to spare." "Spare my sight the pain Of seeing what a world of tears it costs you."
3.
To preserve from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm; to show mercy to. "Spare us, good Lord." "Dim sadness did not spare That time celestial visages." "Man alone can whom he conquers spare."
4.
To save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some occupation, use, or duty.
5.
To deprive one's self 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." "I could have better spared a better man."
To spare one's self.
(a)
To act with reserve. (Obs.) "Her thought that a lady should her spare."
(b)
To save one's self labor, punishment, or blame.



Spare  v. i.  
1.
To be frugal; not to be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious. "I, who at some times spend, at others spare, Divided between carelessness and care."
2.
To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance. "He will not spare in the day of vengeance."
3.
To desist; to stop; to refrain. (Obs.)



noun
Spare  n.  
1.
The act of sparing; moderation; restraint. (Obs.) "Killing for sacrifice, without any spare."
2.
Parsimony; frugal use. (Obs.) "Poured out their plenty without spite or spare."
3.
An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket. (Obs.)
4.
That which has not been used or expended.
5.
(Tenpins) 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. For the meaning in modern bowling, see sense 6.
6.
(Bowling) The act of knocking down all ten pins in two bowls, which entitles the bowler to add the number of pins knocked down in the next bowl to the score for the frame in which the spare occurred.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Spare" Quotes from Famous Books



... closets at the old mansion where you once paid a visit—in a coach—is all dissipated. They have turned out to be the merest cupboards in the wall. Nat, who had travelled and seen London, is by no means so surprising a fellow to your manhood as he was to the boy. He has grown spare, and wears spectacles. He is not so famous as he was. You would hardly think of consulting him now about your marriage, or even about the price ...
— Dream Life - A Fable Of The Seasons • Donald G. Mitchell

... Kid Wolf could not spare his enemies now. His own life depended on his flashing Colt. He lined the tip of his front sight ...
— Kid Wolf of Texas - A Western Story • Ward M. Stevens

... the subject in his thoughts, the more probable it appeared to Dick that the miserable little servant was the culprit. When he considered on what a spare allowance of food she lived, how neglected and untaught she was, and how her natural cunning had been sharpened by necessity and privation, he scarcely doubted it. And yet he pitied her so much, and felt so unwilling to have a matter of such gravity disturbing ...
— Ten Girls from Dickens • Kate Dickinson Sweetser

... congratulation to know that the Secretary will not spare any effort to make this part ...
— Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Volume 8, Section 2 (of 2): Grover Cleveland • Grover Cleveland

... has," said Dick shortly. "I wouldn't say so much as that to any mortal but yourself. Now spare me, Ellery, and don't carry it any further. Do you think," he went on bitterly, "that I have not gone over the whole ground and told myself the old truths that never mean anything to you until life rams them home on your consciousness? A man may creep out ...
— Jewel Weed • Alice Ames Winter


More quotes...



Copyright © 2024 Free Translator.org