spare

Less common meanings

8. 8
   nouncountable

   In bowling and similar games, the act of knocking down all the pins left standing with a later ball of a frame, which earns bonus points or another turn.

   A clean spare in the tenth frame kept her score climbing.

   He converted a tricky spare by clipping the corner pin.

   UsageBowlers pick up or convert a spare.

   Note

   Its value is deferred: the frame's score cannot be finished until the next ball is rolled, because those pins are added to it. Only the second ball of a frame can make a spare, by clearing whatever the first left standing. Bowlers speak of converting a spare, and a tricky one is often judged by which pins remain. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • A spare's score depends on the pins knocked down with the next ball. images.bowl.com
   • A spare requires clearing the pins left by the first delivery with the second delivery. pba.com
   • Bowlers use the expression 'convert a spare'. bowl.com
   • The remaining pin combination affects a spare's difficulty. pba.com
9. 9
   scarceadjective

   Scant; not abundant or plentiful.

   Through that long winter their diet was spare, mostly thin soup and a little bread.

   The prisoners survived on a spare diet of bread and thin soup.

   Similarsparse, scant, meager, scanty, thin

   Oppositeabundant, plentiful, ample, lush

10. 10
    thin (body)adjective

    Lean and thin; lacking flesh; meager or gaunt.

    Years of hard labor had left the old farmer spare and weathered.

    The portrait showed a spare man with hollow cheeks and watchful eyes.

    UsageUsually describes build: a spare frame, spare and weathered.

    Similarlean, thin, gaunt, wiry, skinny

    Oppositeplump, stout, fat, portly

    Note

    Shakespeare plays on both spares at once in Henry IV, Part 2: "give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones." The line sets the adjective for lean men beside a verb for leaving the great ones alone. The pun joins the adjective and the verb of mercy, which grew from distinct but probably related Old English words. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The quoted wordplay occurs in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 2; Falstaff speaks the line. folger.edu
    • The wordplay contrasts lean recruits with larger men whom Falstaff leaves out. folger.edu
    • The adjective and mercy verb descend from distinct Old English words. en.wiktionary.org
    • Distinct Old English forms do not establish unrelated origins. The adjective and verb share an older Germanic origin. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    free period (school)nounCanadacountable

    A period during the school day when a student has no scheduled class.

    He used his third-period spare to meet with a teacher about the project.

    Two seniors share a spare and usually spend it in the music room.

    UsageUsually have a spare, often named by its slot: a third-period spare.

    Note

    A Canadian school word for what other systems call a free period. It takes have: Sandra Rinomato's Realty Check remembers watching David Letterman's morning show "when I had a spare."

12. 12
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To hold back from acting; to stop or refrain.

    Similarrefrain, desist, forbear, relent, stop

    Note

    Old English sparian meant "to show mercy to, refrain from injuring or destroying," and the verb's mercy senses keep that core. Used with no object, spare simply means to hold back, and it is most natural in a negative: they would not spare. Its root is probably related to that of the "scant" adjective, and the two words share one spelling. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Old English sparian meant to show mercy and refrain from injuring or destroying. en.wiktionary.org
    • The words are etymologically related: Wiktionary derives the verb's Germanic ancestor *sparāną from *sparaz, also the ancestor of the adjective. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    second-best personnouncountable

    A person regarded as superfluous or second-best.

    Within the family, the younger son was quietly cast as the spare.

    She resented being the spare whenever her brilliant sister was around.

    UsageCommon in an heir and a spare; calling someone the spare can sting.

    Note

    The phrase that carries this sense is an heir and a spare: the second child, kept in effect as insurance for the first. Prince Harry took Spare as the title of his 2023 memoir, written with J. R. Moehringer, which looks back on "Heir versus Spare" as a family dynamic. The word carries the backup idea of the emergency-reserve adjective over to a person, and it stings. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • In ‘an heir and a spare’, the spare is the second child, serving as backup for the first. en.wikipedia.org
    • Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was first published in 2023. global.penguinrandomhouse.com
    • J. R. Moehringer collaborated on the memoir as its ghostwriter. en.wikipedia.org
    • The memoir uses ‘Heir versus Spare’ to describe the sibling dynamic. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    very angryadjectivecolloquialUK

    Extremely angry, frustrated, or distraught.

    The whole office went spare when the project was called off.

    She went spare after waiting two hours for the delayed train.

    UsageUsually go spare or drive someone spare.

    Similarmad, berserk, ballistic, crazy, nuts

    Note

    David Ovason's The Zelator (1998) recalls a grandfather who used it "unaware that he was using antique terms." That remark hints the idiom can sound old-fashioned even to the people who still say it. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The Zelator is credited to David Ovason. penguin.co.uk
    • The book recalls a grandfather saying ‘drive him spare’, with the narrator’s parenthetical comment ‘unaware that he was using antique terms’. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    bus helpernounMyanmarcountable

    An assistant or extra worker, typically employed on buses and trucks.

    The bus driver's spare leaned out the door, calling out the next stop.

    On long trips, the truck's spare loads the cargo and checks the tires at every stop.

    Similarassistant, helper, mate

    Note

    Myanmar English gives the word a job: the spare is the extra hand who works aboard buses and lorries. In this use the noun names a person, so a spare on a bus means a worker riding along, not the spare tire in the boot. The context of the vehicle usually makes clear which one is meant. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • In Myanmar English, a spare is an assistant or extra worker on buses and lorries. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    nounobsoletecountable

    A placket: a slit opening in a gown or petticoat.

    Similarplacket, slit

17. 17
    verbarchaic

    To be frugal; to live economically and avoid being lavish.

    I, who at some times spend, at others spare, / Divided between carelessness and care.

    1737, Alexander Pope, The Second Epistle of the Second Book of Horace
18. 18
    adjectivearchaic

    Careful or sparing in spending; unwilling to use more money than truly needed.
19. 19
    nounobsolete

    Restraint or moderation, especially careful and economical use of something.

    men slaine, then without any spare at all they trampled over the dead carkasses

    1659, Livy, The Romane Historie