From Middle English sparre (“spar, rafter, beam”) (noun), sparren (“to close, bar”) (verb), from Middle Dutch sparre or Middle Low German Sparre, all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sparrô (“stake, beam”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)par- (“beam, log”). Compare Dutch spar (“balk”), German Sparren (“rafter, spar”), Danish sparre (“spar”), Albanian shparr, shpardh (“kind of oak”). Perhaps also compare spear.
Meanings
A rafter of a roof.
A thick pole or piece of wood.
(obsolete) A bar of wood used to fasten a door.
The Prince staid not his aunswere to devize, / But, opening streight the Sparre, forth to him came […]. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
Any linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff.
A beam-like structural member that supports ribs in an aircraft wing or other airfoil.
ga sparra (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · bg як прът (thick pole) · de Rundholz (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · nl rondhout (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · es tranca (bar to fasten door) · fa دکل (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · ru ранго́ут (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · fi telki (bar to fasten door) · fa شاهتیر (thick pole) · cs závora (bar to fasten door) · ru столб (thick pole) · es larguero (aeronautics: beam-like structural member) · ota صیریق (thick pole) · es poste (thick pole) · ru лонжеро́н крыла́ (aeronautics: beam-like structural member) · ota كوندر (thick pole) · de Spiere (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · mi rākau whakapakoko (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · sv balk (aeronautics: beam-like structural member) · bg греда (thick pole) · fr longeron (aeronautics: beam-like structural member) · fi pyöröpuu (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · bg ранго́ут (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · mh buum̧ (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · enm sparre (thick pole) · cs žerď (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · cs ráhno (nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff) · fi parru (thick pole) · fi siipisalko (aeronautics: beam-like structural member) · de Holm (aeronautics: beam-like structural member) · mi rākau whakapakoko (thick pole) · sv vingbalk (aeronautics: beam-like structural member) · ga croscheann sciatháin (aeronautics: beam-like structural member) · de Flügelholm (aeronautics: beam-like structural member)
From Middle English sparre (“spar, rafter, beam”) (noun), sparren (“to close, bar”) (verb), from Middle Dutch sparre or Middle Low German Sparre, all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sparrô (“stake, beam”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)par- (“beam, log”). Compare Dutch spar (“balk”), German Sparren (“rafter, spar”), Danish sparre (“spar”), Albanian shparr, shpardh (“kind of oak”). Perhaps also compare spear.
Meanings
(dialectal, obsolete) To bolt, bar.
The church dores were sparred,
Fast boltyd and barryd,
Yet wyth a prety gyn
I fortuned to come in, […] c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 64, lines 91–94:
(transitive) To supply or equip (a vessel) with spars.
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.
Meanings
A sparring session; a preliminary fight, as in boxing or cock-fighting.
(Multicultural-London-English) A friend, a mate, a pal.
I don't care if you got friends in your car. Light up your whip and all of your spars. 2009 March 17, “Next Hype” (track 3), in All-Star Pars, performed by Tempa T:
'Ello clart! How are you doin' spar? Let's have a look at your mobile phone there, that's fuckin' posh, innit?[…]that's fuckin' safe, spar! 2003, “Soap Bar”, in The Manifesto, performed by Goldie Looking Chain:
KLASHNEKOFF: I take two glass then pass the spliff to my spars. 2002, “No Escape” (track 23), in It's All Happening Now, performed by Lewis Parker (musician), Klashnekoff, and Skriblah Dan Gogh:
Trying to explain to my spars how it is over a spliff. Arguing, cause the media got 'em locked under their lids. 2014 September 12, “September 12th”performed by S.Kalibre:
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.
Meanings
To fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat.
After early sparring, Spurs started to take control as the interval approached and twice came close to taking the lead. Terry blocked Rafael van der Vaart's header on the line and the same player saw his cross strike the post after Adebayor was unable to apply a touch. 2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 04 Sep 2016:
cs dohadovat se (to argue) · nl sparren (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat) · cs trénovat (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat) · ru вести тренировочный бой (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat) · ru спарринговать (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat) · sv sparra (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat) · cs cvičit se (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat) · it allenarsi al combattimento (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat) · cs přít se (to argue) · fi sparrata (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat) · ga speáráil (to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat)
Etymology tree
Middle Low German sparder.
Old English spærstān
Middle English sparston
English sparstonebf.
English spar
From Middle Low German spar, sper (“spar”); or from a backformation of sparstone (“spar”), from Middle English sparston (“gypsum, chalk”), from Old English spærstān (“gypsum”). Related to German Sparkalk (“plaster”), Old English spæren (“of plaster, of mortar”).
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) Any of various microcrystalline minerals, of light, translucent, or transparent appearance, which are easily cleft.
(countable, uncountable) Any crystal with readily discernible faces.