different between spare vs keep

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.

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?p, IPA^(key): /ki?p/
• Rhymes: -i?p

Etymology

From Middle English kepen (“to keep, guard, look after, watch”), from Old English c?pan (“to seize, hold, observe”), from Proto-Germanic *k?pijan? (compare West Frisian kypje (“to look”)), from Proto-Indo-European *?ab-, *??b- (“to look after”) (compare Lithuanian ž?bti (“to eat reluctantly”), Russian ??????? (zabóta, “care, worry”)).

Verb

keep (third-person singular simple present keeps, present participle keeping, simple past and past participle kept)

1. To continue in (a course or mode of action); not to intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act V, Scene 1,^[1]

     Both day and night did we keep company.

   • c. 1749, Tobias Smollett, The Regicide, Act V, Scene 5, in Plays and Poems Written by T. Smollett, M.D., London: T. Evans and R. Baldwin, 1777, p. 106,^[2]

     Within the portal as I kept my watch,

2. (heading, transitive) To hold the status of something.
   1. To maintain possession of.

   2. (ditransitive) To maintain the condition of; to preserve in a certain state.
   3. (transitive) To record transactions, accounts, or events in.

   4. (transitive) To enter (accounts, records, etc.) in a book.
   5. (archaic) To remain in, to be confined to.
      • 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, III.ii,

        The wrathful skies / Gallow the very wanderers of the dark / And make them keep their caves.

      • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt 2008, p. 71:

        The following day she was so ill that she kept her bed; the husband went not once to enquire for her, nor did he send any message: he also kept his apartment, and was heard walking backwards and forwards with a hurried pace the whole of that day.
   6. To restrain.

   7. (with from) To watch over, look after, guard, protect.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:

        cursse on thy cruell hond, / That twise hath sped; yet shall it not thee keepe / From the third brunt of this my fatall brond […].

   8. To supply with necessities and financially support a person.

   9. (of living things) To raise; to care for.
      • 1914, Robert Joos, Success with Hens, Forbes & company, p.217:

        Of course boys are boys and need watching, but there is little watching necessary when they keep chickens.
   10. To maintain (an establishment or institution); to conduct; to manage.
       • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene 2,^[4]

         like a pedant that keeps a school

       • 1630, John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: John Partridge, p. 114,^[5]

         They were honourably accompanied and with great estate brought to London, where euery of them kept house by himselfe.

       • At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

   11. To have habitually in stock for sale.
3. (heading, intransitive) To hold or be held in a state.
   1. (obsolete) To reside for a time; to lodge; to dwell.
      • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act V, Scene 2,^[6]

        Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,

        To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;

   2. To continue.
   3. To remain edible or otherwise usable.
      • 1707, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry

        If the malt be not thoroughly dried, the ale it makes will not keep.

   4. (copulative) To remain in a state.

4. (obsolete) To wait for, keep watch for.
5. (intransitive, cricket) To act as wicket-keeper.

6. (intransitive, obsolete) To take care; to be solicitous; to watch.
   • c. 1530, William Tyndale, A Pathway into the holy Scripture in The Whole Workes of W. Tyndall, Iohn Frith, and Doct. Barnes, London: John Day, 1573, p. 384,^[7]

     […] kepe that the lustes choke not the word of God that is sowen in vs,

7. (intransitive, obsolete) To be in session; to take place.

8. (transitive) To observe; to adhere to; to fulfill; not to swerve from or violate.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 2 Timothy 4.7,^[8]

     I have kept the faith:

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, London, Book 7, lines 1271-1272,^[9]

     Be strong, live happie, and love, but first of all

     Him whom to love is to obey, and keep

     His great command;

9. (transitive, dated, by extension) To visit (a place) often; to frequent.
   • c. 1608, John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess, Act III, Scene 1,^[10]

     […] ’tis hallowed ground;

     No Maid seeks here her strayed Cow, or Sheep,

     Fairies, and fawns, and satyrs do it keep:

10. (transitive, dated) To observe or celebrate (a holiday).

Synonyms

• (maintain possession of): retain
• (maintain the condition of): preserve, protect
• (to reside for a time): See also Thesaurus:sojourn

Derived terms

Pages starting with “keep”.

Related terms

• for keeps

Translations

Noun

keep (countable and uncountable, plural keeps)

1. (historical) The main tower of a castle or fortress, located within the castle walls.

   Synonym: donjon

2. The food or money required to keep someone alive and healthy; one's support, maintenance.

3. (obsolete) The act or office of keeping; custody; guard; care; heed; charge; notice.

4. The state of being kept; hence, the resulting condition; case.

5. (obsolete) That which is kept in charge; a charge.

6. (engineering) A cap for holding something, such as a journal box, in place.

Derived terms

• earn one's keep

Translations

See also

• donjon

Anagrams

• Ekpe, PEEK, Peek, Peke, kepe, peek, peke

Dutch

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ke?p/
• Hyphenation: keep
• Rhymes: -e?p
• Homophone: cape

Noun

keep f (plural kepen, diminutive keepje n)

1. notch, carven mark

   Synonyms: inkeping, kerf

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “cf. West Frisian "keepfink", prob. a borrowing”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ke?p/
• Hyphenation: keep
• Rhymes: -e?p
• Homophone: cape

Noun

keep m (plural kepen, diminutive keepje n)

1. brambling, Fringilla montifringilla

Etymology 3

Shortening of keeper.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kip/
• Hyphenation: keep
• Rhymes: -ip
• Homophone: kiep

Noun

keep m (plural keeps)

1. (ball games, chiefly soccer, colloquial) goalkeeper

Estonian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

keep (genitive keebi, partitive keepi)

1. cloak, capote, gaberdine

Declension

Middle English

Noun

keep

1. notice; note; observance

   take keep — “take note”

   • And shame it is, if a preest take keep

     A shiten shepherde and a clene sheep

Yucatec Maya

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ke?p?/

Noun

keep (plural keepo?ob)

1. (anatomy) penis

Synonyms

• toon