spare
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: spâr
ipa: /spɛə(ɹ)/
enpr: spâr
ipa: /spɛɚ/
ipa: /speː/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /speə/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /spiə/
ipa: /speɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /spɜː(ɹ)/
homophone: spear (cheer–chair merger)
homophone: spur (fair–fur merger)
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
Forms: form: sparer
form: sparest
Etymology: From 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”).
Senses: examples: text: I have no spare time.
text: if that no spare cloths he had to give
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 39:
glosses: Extra.
Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.
examples: text: a spare anchor; a spare wheel or tyre
glosses: Extra.
Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.
examples: text: We could rent out the spare room.
text: 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.
ref: 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Earth:
text: 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.
ref: 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
glosses: Extra.
Not occupied or in current use.
examples: text: a spare diet
text: 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.
ref: 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:
glosses: Not plentiful.
Scant; not abundant or plentiful.
examples: text: I’m naked to the bone,
With nakedness my shield.
Myself is what I wear:
I keep the spirit spare.
ref: 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:
glosses: Not plentiful.
Austere, stripped down, without what is extraneous.
examples: text: He was spare, […]but discreet of speech.
ref: 1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 2009 April 12, Phil Patton, “At VW, the Italian Accent Gets Stronger”, in New York Times:
glosses: Not plentiful.
Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; not spending much money.
examples: text: O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.
ref: 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]:
glosses: Not plentiful.
Lean; lacking flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.
examples: text: When he found out that someone had broken the window, he went spare.
text: The poor girl is going spare, stuck in the house all day with the kids like that.
text: “That'll drive him spare.”
ref: 2006, Tate Hallaway, Tall, Dark & Dead:
text: 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.
ref: 2013, David Ovason, The Zelator:
glosses: Very angry; frustrated or distraught.
Derived terms: go spare
like a spare prick at a wedding
spare ball
spare change
sparely
spareness
spare part
sparer
spare rib
spare room
spare time
spare tire
spare tool
spare tyre
spare wheel