Spare means extra or not currently needed. When you have a spare pencil in your backpack, you have one more than you're using right now, ready if your main pencil breaks. Hotels keep spare bedsheets in closets, and mechanics keep spare parts in their shops.

The word also means to give something you can afford to lose. If you have money to spare, you have more than you absolutely need. When someone asks “Can you spare a minute?” they're asking if you have time you're not using for something else.

In bowling, a spare is when you knock down all ten pins using both of your turns. If you leave pins standing after your first ball but knock them all down with your second, you've made a spare.

To spare can also mean to show mercy or avoid harming someone. A general might spare captured soldiers rather than punishing them. When someone says “spare me the details,” they mean skip the parts they don't need to hear.

The phrase spare no expense means to spend whatever is necessary without holding back. The opposite idea, to have something to spare, means having extra: “We arrived with time to spare” means you got there early.