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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


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"Spare" Quotes from Famous Books



... God spare Darcy, he'ld always look in here and he passing up or passing down, and it's very lonesome I was after him a long while {she looks over at the bed and lowers her voice, speaking very clearly,} and then I got happy again—if it's ever happy we ...
— In the Shadow of the Glen • J. M. Synge
... claret on the table, and the Major, dull and bored, and resenting the other's vigilance, did not spare it. When he rose to his feet to retire he was heated and flushed, but not drunk. "Where's that young cub?" he asked, ...
— The Wild Geese • Stanley John Weyman
... will impute them to the kingdom, unless the kingdom mourn for them. God gives not a charge to the destroying angel (Ezek. ix. 4) to spare those who have not been actors in the public sins and abominations, but to spare those only who cry and sigh for ...
— The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Gillespie
... with wounds. The prince had resolved on putting them both to death; but, while deliberating on the mode of execution, his wife, the ulmena or princess of Copaipo, moved by compassion for their unhappy situation, successfully interceded with her husband to spare their lives, unbound them with her own hands, tenderly dressed their wounds, and treated them as if they had been her brothers. When they were entirely recovered, she desired them to teach her son the art of riding, as several of the Spanish horses ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5 • Robert Kerr
... Mandapala, Agni was gratified with that Rishi of immeasurable energy; and the god, well- pleased, replied, 'What good can I do to thee?' Then Mandapala with joined palms said unto the carrier of clarified butter, 'While thou burnest the forest of Khandava, spare my children.' The illustrious bearer of clarified butter replied, 'So be it.' It was, therefore, O monarch, that he blazed not forth, while consuming the forest of Khandava, for ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - Translated into English Prose - Adi Parva (First Parva, or First Book) • Kisari Mohan Ganguli (Translator)


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