Link Centre Dictionary

spar

UK/spɑː/ US/spɑɹ/ uncommon obsolete uk
noun (3) verb (4)

noun

1.

any of various nonmetallic minerals (calcite or feldspar) that are light in color and transparent or translucent and cleavable

2.
3.

making the motions of attack and defense with the fists and arms; a part of training for a boxer

Synonyms

verb

1.

furnish with spars

2.

fight with spurs

  • “the gamecocks were sparring”
3.
4.

fight verbally

  • “They were sparring all night”

Origin

From Middle English sparren (“to dart out; to strike out”), from Old English sperran, spirran, spyrran (“to strike, strike out at, spar”), related to Low German sparre (“a struggling, striving”), German sich sperren (“to struggle, resist, oppose”), Icelandic sperrast (“to kick out at, thrust, struggle”). The slang sense of friend is probably from the phrase sparring partner under the influence of the similar slang words par and star.

Phrases

  • bitter spar
  • brown spar
  • Derbyshire spar
  • fluor spar
  • Greenland spar
  • heavy spar
  • hog-tooth spar
  • Iceland spar
  • monkey spar
  • short spar
  • spar buoy
  • spar deck

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.