extra and available to use because it is not needed at the moment
I always keep a spare key under the flowerpot in case I get locked out.
Is there a spare chair at your table for me?
✦ Old English spær “scant, frugal”, later “not in use, extra”.
an extra thing kept so you can use it if the original one is lost or broken
Keep a spare in the glove compartment for emergencies.
I lost a button, but luckily I had a spare.
✦ Developed from the adjective sense “extra” in the late 17th century.
to give or allow something such as time, money, or effort because you can manage without it
Could you spare a few minutes to answer my questions?
She couldn’t spare any cash at the moment.
✦ Old English spǣrian “refrain, abstain, save”, later broadened to allowing or giving what is extra.
in bowling, a score made when all ten pins are knocked down with two rolls in one frame
He turned a difficult split into a spare.
She rolled a strike and then a spare in the next frame.
✦ Bowling term recorded from the late 19th century, from the idea of "making up what is missing".
to prevent someone or something from suffering, being harmed, or experiencing something unpleasant
Firefighters arrived quickly and spared the old house from destruction.
Please spare me the long explanation and just give me the result.
✦ Same Germanic root as sense “give”, originally “make exempt; allow to escape harm”.
plain and simple, with little decoration or excess
The room was furnished in a spare modern style.
Her writing is spare but deeply moving.
✦ Sense of “plain, unadorned” grew from the idea of “using little” in the 20th century.
