spar

CEFRB2

/spɑː/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To fight or argue lightly, without serious intent.

  2. 02

    noun

    A strong pole used to support part of a ship or aircraft.

Examples

  • If you spar with him, I'll tell you a secret about his strength.

  • Spain and the UK continue to spar over the territory.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. A bar of wood used to fasten a door.

  2. A thick pole or piece of wood.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A rafter of a roof.

More examples

In context

  • Would you like to spar with me?

  • The Prince staid not his aunswere to devize, / But, opening streight the Sparre, forth to him came […].

  • The church dores were sparred, Fast boltyd and barryd, Yet wyth a prety gyn I fortuned to come in, […]

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The two professional boxers will blank in the ring for the title.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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.