Spare \Spare\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spared; p. pr. & vb. n.
Sparing.] [AS. sparian, fr. spaer spare, sparing, saving;
akin to D. & G. sparen, OHG. spar?n, Icel. & Sw. spara, Dan.
spare See Spare, a.]
1. To use frugally or stintingly, as that which is scarce or
valuable; to retain or keep unused; to save. "No cost
would he spare." --Chaucer.
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[Thou] thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not
spare. --Milton.
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He that hath knowledge, spareth his words. --Prov.
xvii. 27.
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2. To keep to one's self; to forbear to impart or give.
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Be pleased your plitics to spare. --Dryden.
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Spare my sight the pain
Of seeing what a world of tears it costs you.
--Dryden.
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3. To preserve from danger or punishment; to forbear to
punish, injure, or harm; to show mercy to.
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Spare us, good Lord. --Book of
Common Prayer.
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Dim sadness did not spare
That time celestial visages. --Milton.
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Man alone can whom he conquers spare. --Waller.
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4. To save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some
occupation, use, or duty.
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All the time he could spare from the necessary cares
of his weighty charge, he ?estowed on . . . serving
of God. --Knolles.
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5. To deprive one's self of, as by being frugal; to do
without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with.
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Where angry Jove did never spare
One breath of kind and temperate air. --Roscommon.
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I could have better spared a better man. --Shak.
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To spare one's self.
(a) To act with reserve. [Obs.]
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Her thought that a lady should her spare.
--Chaucer.
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(b) To save one's self labor, punishment, or blame.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sparing \Spar"ing\, a.
Spare; saving; frugal; merciful. --Bacon.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
sparing
adj : avoiding waste; "an economical meal"; "an economical
shopper"; "a frugal farmer"; "a frugal lunch"; "a
sparing father and a spending son"; "sparing in their
use of heat and light"; "stinting in bestowing gifts";
"thrifty because they remember the great Depression";
"`scotch' is used only informally" [syn: economical,
frugal, scotch, stinting]
WordNet (r) 2.0
130 Moby Thesaurus words for "sparing":
Lenten, Scotch, Spartan, absolution, abstemious, amnesty, ascetic,
austere, benevolent, canny, careful, chary, cheap, cheeseparing,
close, conciliatory, conserving, cooling, cooling down,
cooling off, curtailment, cutback, dwarfed, dwarfish, economic,
economical, economization, economizing, exculpation, excuse,
exemption, exiguous, exoneration, forbearing, forehanded,
forgiving, frugal, frugal to excess, generous, grace, immunity,
impoverished, indemnity, jejune, kind, labor-saving, lean, limited,
long-suffering, longanimous, low growth rate, magnanimous, meager,
mean, measured, mingy, miserly, moderate, money-saving, narrow,
niggardly, overfrugal, paltry, pardon, parsimonious, patient,
penny-pinching, penny-wise, penny-wise and pound-foolish,
penurious, placable, poor, provident, prudent, prudential, puny,
redemption, reduction of expenses, reduction of spending,
remission, remission of sin, reprieve, restrained, retrenchment,
saving, scamping, scant, scanty, scraping, scrawny, scrimp,
scrimping, scrimpy, shrift, skimp, skimping, skimpy, slender,
slight, slim, slowdown, small, sober, spare, sparse, starvation,
stingy, stinted, stinting, straitened, stunted, subsistence,
temperate, thin, thrifty, tight, tight-fisted, tightfisted,
time-saving, tolerant, too frugal, ungiving, unnourishing,
unnutritious, unresentful, unrevengeful, unwasteful, wary, watered,
watery
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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