spare
//spɛə(ɹ)//
Forms
- Comparative
- sparer
- Superlative
- sparest
- Plural
- spares
- present (v1)
- spare
- past (v2)
- spared
- past participle (v3)
- spared
- present participle
- sparing
- 3rd person singular
- spares
Definitions
1.Extra.
- We could rent out the spare room.
- I have no spare time.
2.Not plentiful.
- O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.
- He was spare, […]but discreet of speech.
3.Very angry; frustrated or distraught.(informal)
- 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.
- 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.
1.The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.
2.Parsimony; frugal use.
3.An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.
4.That which has not been used or expended.
1.To show mercy, to have mercy on.
- Kill me, if you please, or spare me.
- For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
- Cologne Hauptbahnhof is reached in the small hours, and the traveller new to postwar Germany is spared the sight of the devastated city.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4604
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
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-.