From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsparespare1 /speə $ sper/ ●●○ adjective 1 → spare key/battery/clothes etc2 not used/neededREMAIN/BE LEFT [usually before noun] not being used or not needed at the present time Have you got any spare boxes? You could sleep in the spare bedroom. Do you have any spare cash? I’ll go and see if there are any spare seats. A decline in beer sales had left the industry with spare capacity (=the ability to produce more than can be sold).3 → spare time/moment/hour etc4 → spare change5 → be going spare6 → go spare7 plain a spare style of writing, painting etc is plain or basic and uses nothing unnecessary8 thin literaryALTHIN PERSON someone who is spare is tall and thin
Examples from the Corpus
spare• a spare bass guitar line• We carried Ros upstairs and laid her on the spare bed.• We're using the spare bedroom as a storage space.• You can stay with us, we have a spare bedroom.• Are there any spare chairs we can borrow?• I put my spare change in a charity collection box.• I need 50 cents for the parking meter - do you have any spare change?• It seemed like every time I turned around, some bum was hitting me up for spare change.• In his spare hours, he played the flute and read a great deal of poetry.• Pauline keeps a spare key hanging in the closet upstairs.• I always leave a set of spare keys with my neighbor.• Elastogran will take over sales of spare parts and the service of all polyurethane processing machines and plants already supplied by Desma.• It was very evident that there were no supplies or spare parts available.• Ian MacDonald and he had stripped down the old wreck and searched junk yards for spare parts.• And I noticed that in the wardrobe was a spare pillow.• Some couples will start married life in a spare room at the home of one set of parents -- usually the bride's.• Every spare room became a coveted rental unit.• We've got a spare sleeping bag that you can borrow.• a precise, spare style of writing• We have two spare tickets for the game - do you want to come?• A lot of kids don't have enough to do in their spare time, and that's when they get into trouble.• In his spare time Gavin competes in various rallies.• Some of his best work, on glaciation and on Old Red Sandstone, was done in his spare time.• All cars have to carry a spare tyre by law.• the artist's spare use of colorspare capacity• Despite planned closures, the continuing decline in demand will continue to generate spare capacity.• One of the hospitals in Grampian had spare capacity in radiology and made a presentation to the fundholding group.• A final difference with the Marshall era is the lack of spare capacity in the developed world.• These non-critical elements can be either spread throughout the time-scale or tackled when spare capacity is available.• Foster Yeoman sees potential in selling spare capacity on its trains to other users.• Smaller companies that can't afford these luxuries can sometimes arrange to use spare capacity on the network of a nearby multinational.• In the meantime fundholding practices can use the spare capacity that exists.• Much also depends on how much spare capacity there actually is in manufacturing industry.sparespare2 ●○○ verb [transitive] 1 giveGIVE to make something such as time, money, or workers available for someone, especially when this is difficult for you to do Sorry, I can’t spare the time. I’d like you to come over when you can spare a couple of hours. Can you spare £5?spare somebody/something to do something We’re too busy to spare anyone to help you right now.spare somebody ten minutes/an hour etc Could you possibly spare me a few moments in private (=used to ask someone if they have time to quickly talk to you)? It’s very kind of you to spare me so much of your time.2 → money/time etc to spare3 → spare somebody the trouble/difficulty/pain etc (of doing something)4 not damage or harmSAVE/RESCUE to not damage or harm someone or something, even though other people or things are being damaged, killed, or destroyed I could not understand why I had been spared and they had not. the soldier who had spared his lifespare somebody/something from something Today we will hear whether the school is to be spared from closure.5 → spare a thought for somebody6 → spare no expense/effort7 → spare somebody (the details)8 → spare somebody’s feelings9 → spare a glance10 → spare somebody’s blushes→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
spare• Haynes then steered the tourists to an easy victory with more than 11 overs to spare.• They reached their goal with five overs to spare.• Luckily, the hostages' lives were spared.• If anyone can spare a couple of hours a week to help out, it would be much appreciated.• Dad, can you spare a fiver?• He had had a very hard time indeed to persuade the King, but he had spared no pains.• But he could spare no time, not knowing how long he might be allowed to talk to Jason.• And if not, yet I will not spare of what I have sworn touching Parfois.• Although we are spared the details, it resulted in all the barbed wire on the course being removed.• I'm afraid we can't spare the staff. Everybody's busy right now.• Certainly nothing was spared to make her happy - if money, and attention, and general spoiling could do that.• We don't have very much coffee, I'm afraid, but we can spare you a little.sparespare3 noun 1 [countable]MORE/EXTRA an additional thing, for example a key, that you keep so that it is available If you forget the key, Mrs Jones over the road has a spare. The batteries are dead. Have you got any spares?2 [countable]TTC a spare tyre3 → sparesExamples from the Corpus
spare• I brought two batteries just in case I needed a spare.• They are sold by many electrical retail outlets, and spares are easy to carry.• Build quality seemed good and there are now enough agents in this country to make servicing and spares less of a worry.• The reason is now obvious, a pair of robins had nested in the electrical spares rack.• Sanctions meant he could no longer import spares but the value of his existing stock had increased tenfold.• She noted, however, that spares for aircraft can be produced by companies other than the original manufacturer.• Within a minute, the spare was in place.Origin spare1 Old English spær spare2 Old English sparian 