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Verb: spare  spehr
  1. Refrain from harming
    - save
     
  2. Save or relieve from an experience or action
    "I'll spare you from having to apologize formally"
     
  3. Give up what is not strictly needed
    "he asked if they could spare one of their horses to speed his journey";
    - give up, part with, dispense with
     
  4. Use frugally or carefully
Adjective: spare (sparer,sparest)  spehr
  1. Thin and fit
    "the spare figure of a marathon runner";
    - trim
     
  2. More than is needed, desired, or required
    "sleeping in the spare room";
    - excess, extra, redundant, supererogatory, superfluous, supernumerary, surplus
     
  3. Not taken up by scheduled activities
    "spare time on my hands";
    - free
     
  4. Kept in reserve especially for emergency use
    "a spare tire"; "spare parts"
     
  5. Lacking in magnitude or quantity
    "a spare diet";
    - bare, scanty
     
  6. Lacking embellishment or ornamentation
    - plain, bare, unembellished, unornamented
     
  7. [Brit, informal] Very angry
    - hot under the collar [informal]
Noun: spare  spehr
  1. An extra component of a machine or other apparatus
    - spare part
     
  2. An extra car wheel and tire for a four-wheel vehicle
    - fifth wheel
     
  3. A score in tenpins; knocking down all ten after rolling two balls

Derived forms: spared, spares, sparest, sparing, sparer

See also: angry, cross, lean, meager [N. Amer], meagerly [N. Amer], meagre [Brit, Cdn], meagrely [Brit, Cdn], scrimpy, stingy [informal], thin, unadorned, undecorated, unnecessary, unneeded, unoccupied

Type of: car wheel, component, constituent, element, exempt, expend, forbear, free, give, refrain, relieve, score, use

Encyclopedia: Spare, Richard