different between poor vs spare

English

Etymology

From Middle English povre, povere, from Old French (and Anglo-Norman) povre, poure (Modern French pauvre), from Latin pauper (English pauper), from Old Latin *pavo-pars (literally “getting little”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh?w- (“few, small”). Cognate with Old English f?awa (“little, few”). Doublet of pauper.

Displaced native Middle English earm, arm (“poor”) (from Old English earm; See arm), Middle English wantsum, wantsome (“poor, needy”) (from Old Norse vant (“deficiency, lack, want”)), Middle English unlede (“poor”) (from Old English unl?de), Middle English unweli, unwely (“poor, unwealthy”) (from Old English un- + weli? (“well-to-do, prosperous, rich”).

Pronunciation

• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /po?/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /p??/, /pu?/, /p??/
• (Indian English) IPA^(key): /?p?(?)?(r)/
• (Received Pronunciation)
  • IPA^(key): /p??(?)/, /p??(?)/
• (US)
  • IPA^(key): /p??/, /p??/
• Rhymes: -??(?), -??(?)
• Homophones: pour, pore (with the pour-poor merger)
• Homophone: paw (in some non-rhotic accents, with the pour-poor merger)

Adjective

poor (comparative poorer, superlative poorest)

1. With no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.

   The poor are always with us.

2. Of low quality.
3. Used to express pity.

   • Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
4. Deficient in a specified way.

5. Inadequate, insufficient.
   • a. 1686, Benjamin Calamy, Sermon 1

     That I have wronged no Man, will be a poor plea or apology at the last day.

6. Free from self-assertion; not proud or arrogant; meek.

   • Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Usage notes

When the word "poor" is used to express pity, it does not change the meaning of the sentence. For example, in the sentence "Give this soup to that poor man!", the word "poor" does not serve to indicate which man is meant (and so the sentence expresses exactly the same command as "Give this soup to that man!"). Instead, the word "poor" merely adds an expression of pity to the sentence.

Synonyms

• (with no or few possessions or money): See Thesaurus:impoverished
• (of low quality): inferior
• (to be pitied): pitiable, arm

Antonyms

• (with no or few possessions): rich, wealthy
• (of low quality): good
• (deficient in a specified way): rich
• (inadequate): adequate

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• deserving poor
• poorhouse
• undeserving poor

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• poro-, roop

Limburgish

Etymology

From Walloon porea.

Noun

poor m

1. leek

Old French

Noun

poor f (oblique plural poors, nominative singular poor, nominative plural poors)

1. fear

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sp??(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sp???/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English spare, spar, from Old English spær (“sparing, scant”), from Proto-Germanic *sparaz (compare with Dutch spaar(zaam), German spar(sam) and spär(lich), Swedish spar(sam), Icelandic sparr (“sparing”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (compare Latin (pro)sperus (“lucky”), Old Church Slavonic ????? (spor?, “plentiful”), Albanian shperr (“earn money”), Persian ????? (sep?r, “entrust; deposit”), Ancient Greek ??????? (sparnós, “rare”), Sanskrit ????? (sphirá, “thick”)).

Adjective

spare (comparative sparer, superlative sparest)

1. Scant; not abundant or plentiful.

   a spare diet
2. Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; not spending much money.
   • 1602, Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwall

     He was spare, […] but discreet of speech.
3. Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.

   I have no spare time.
4. Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.

   a spare anchor; a spare wheel or tyre

5. Not occupied or in current use.
6. Lean; lacking flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.
8. (Britain, informal) Very angry; frustrated or distraught.

   When he found out that someone had broken the window, he went spare.

   The poor girl is going spare, stuck in the house all day with the kids like that.

   • 2006, Tate Hallaway, Tall, Dark & Dead:

     “That'll drive him spare.”
9. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) Slow.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Welsh: sbâr

Translations

Noun

spare (plural spares)

1. The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.
   • 1600, Philemon Holland, The Romane Historie

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

2. Parsimony; frugal use.
3. An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.
4. That which has not been used or expended.
5. A spare part, especially a spare tire.
6. A superfluous or second-best person, specially (in a dynastic context) in the phrase "An heir and a spare".
7. (bowling) The right of bowling again at a full set of pins, after having knocked all the pins down in less than three bowls. If all the pins are knocked down in one bowl it is a double spare; in two bowls, a single spare.
8. (bowling) The act of knocking down all remaining pins in second ball of a frame; this entitles the pins knocked down on the next ball to be added to the score for that frame.
9. (Canada) A free period; a block of school during which one does not have a class.

Etymology 2

From Middle English sparen, sparien, from Old English sparian (“to spare, show mercy to, refrain from injuring or destroying”), from Proto-Germanic *spar?n?, *spar?n? (“to save, keep, spare”), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to be productive, earn”). Cognate with Scots spar, spare, spair (“to spare”), West Frisian sparje (“to save, spare”), Dutch sparen (“to save, spare”), German sparen (“to save, conserve, economise”), Swedish spara (“to save, save up”), Icelandic spara (“to save, conserve”).

Verb

spare (third-person singular simple present spares, present participle sparing, simple past and past participle spared)

1. To show mercy.
   1. (intransitive) To desist; to stop; to refrain.
   2. (intransitive) To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance.
   3. (transitive) To preserve from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm; to show mercy.
      • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

        Kill me, if you please, or spare me.
2. To keep.
   1. (intransitive) To be frugal; not to be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious.
   2. (transitive) To keep to oneself; to forbear to impart or give.
   3. (transitive) To save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some occupation, use, or duty.
3. (transitive) (to give up): To deprive oneself of, as by being frugal; to do without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with.
   • a. 1779, Earl of Roscommon, “The Twenty-second Ode of the First Book of Horace”:

     Where angry Jove did never spare / One breath of kind and temperate air.

   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The History of Henry the Fourth (Part 1), Act V, scene iv:

     Poor Jack, farewell! / I could have better spared a better man

Descendants

• ? Welsh: sbario

Translations

Anagrams

• Asper, Earps, Pears, Peras, RESPA, Rapes, Spear, Spera, apers, apres, après, aprés, as per, asper, pares, parse, pears, prase, presa, præs., rapes, reaps, sarpe, spear

Danish

Etymology 1

From English spare. Related to the following verb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sp??r/, [?sb????], [?sb?æ??]

Noun

spare c (singular definite sparen, plural indefinite spare or spares)

1. (bowling) spare (the act of knocking down all remaining pins in second ball of a frame)

Inflection

References

• “spare,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 2

From Old Norse spara, from Proto-Germanic *spar?n?, cognate with Swedish spara, English spare, German sparen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spa?r?/, [?sb????]
• Homophones: sparer, sparre, sparrer

Verb

spare (past tense sparede, past participle sparet)

1. to save
2. to spare
3. to economize
4. to save up

Inflection

References

• “spare,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

spare

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of sparen

French

Etymology 1

From Latin sparus

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spa?/

Noun

spare m (plural spares)

1. A fish of the superorder Acanthopterygii

Etymology 2

From English spare

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sp??/

Noun

spare m (plural spares)

1. (bowling) a spare.

Related terms

• strike

German

Verb

spare

1. inflection of sparen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Italian

Verb

spare

1. third-person singular present indicative of sparere

Anagrams

• aspre, parse, persa, presa, saper, spera

Latin

Noun

spare

1. vocative singular of sparus

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

spare

1. Alternative form of sparre

Etymology 2

Verb

spare

1. Alternative form of sparren (“to close”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse spara

Verb

spare (imperative spar, present tense sparer, passive spares, simple past sparte, past participle spart, present participle sparende)

1. to save

Derived terms

• sparebank

References

• “spare” in The Bokmål Dictionary.