SPARING • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Sparing

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/spˈɛrɪŋ/ Listen

adjective

Sparing adj. Spare; saving; frugal; merciful.

verb

Spare v. t. (past & past part. spared; pres. part. sparing)

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." "(Thou) thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare." "He that hath knowledge, spareth his words."

2.

To keep to one's self; to forbear to impart or give. "Be pleased your plitics to spare." "Spare my sight the pain Of seeing what a world of tears it costs you."

3.

To preserve from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm; to show mercy to. "Spare us, good Lord." "Dim sadness did not spare That time celestial visages." "Man alone can whom he conquers spare."

4.

To save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some occupation, use, or duty.

5.

To deprive one's self of, as by being frugal; to do without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with. "Where angry Jove did never spare One breath of kind and temperate air." "I could have better spared a better man."

To spare one's self.

(a)

To act with reserve. (Obs.) "Her thought that a lady should her spare."

(b)

To save one's self labor, punishment, or blame.

Spare v. i.

1.

To be frugal; not to be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious. "I, who at some times spend, at others spare, Divided between carelessness and care."

2.

To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance. "He will not spare in the day of vengeance."

3.

To desist; to stop; to refrain. (Obs.)

See images of 'Sparing'

Etymology of 'Sparing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sparing" Quotes from Famous Books

... by the couch where the poet lay, Mid fancies bright on their sparing way; The tide of song in his heaving breast Flowed strong and free in its deep unrest; His soul was thirsting for things divine— I led him far to ...

— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, June 1844 - Volume 23, Number 6 • Various

... I was a busy man no doubt, with a mighty good master who knew he'd got a treasure. Because wine and tobacco be second nature to me, and though very sparing in the use of both, I have great natural gifts and a sort of steadfast and unfailing judgment for the best. And as master be fond of saying in his amusing way, the best is always good enough for him, so Sir Walter Oakshott of Oakshotts ...

— The Torch and Other Tales • Eden Phillpotts

... of his wanton eye, Seduc'd the pitch and height of his degree To base declension and loath'd bigamy: By her, in his unlawful bed, he got This Edward, whom our manners call the prince. More bitterly could I expostulate, Save that, for reverence to some alive, I give a sparing limit to my tongue. Then, good my lord, take to your royal self This proffer'd benefit of dignity; If not to bless us and the land withal, Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry From the corruption of abusing time Unto a lineal ...

— The Life and Death of King Richard III • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]

... their play experiences, they accept the disciplines of work. Relaxed teachers are needed who understand the process by which children learn to move from play to work, and who can encourage them to make this transition without either sparing them the needed disciplines or imposing them too strenuously. Here we see an area in which the role of the family and the role of the ...

— Herein is Love • Reuel L. Howe

... the occasion: "Mrs. Washington, herself, made tea and coffee for us. On the table were two small plates of sliced tongue and dry toast, bread and butter, but no broiled fish, as is the general custom." However sparing the mistress of Mt. Vernon might have been, it was the usual custom in old times to eat a hearty breakfast of meat or fish and potato, hot biscuits, doughnuts, griddle cakes and sometimes even pie was added. A section ...

— American Cookery - November, 1921 • Various

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