spare, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

spare adj.

1. idle, useless, superfluous.

1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 208: A spare Lady and I were hiding down there.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 266: Spare, To Look: To be idle.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 154: Well, we can’t stand around here spare. We’ll get knocked off for a dead cert if we do.
1946		B. Charles 15 Apr. diary in Garfield Our Hidden Lives (2004) 205: The Yanks are so fearfully overbearing and boastful when they go with a lot of ‘spare’ women.

2. (orig. milit.) overwrought, distraught.

1927		(con. WW1) P. MacDonald Patrol 206: ‘Can’t let him wander around spare an’ the sun just gettin’ up’.
1958		implied in go spare
1982		P. Bailey An Eng. Madam 95: I was spare, I really was.
1998		R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] It’s enough to send you spare.
1999		Guardian G2 12 Aug. 7: Pandora’s kicked you out and you’re feeling a bit spare.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 spare adj. A condition of extreme annoyance usually associated with one’s mother who might be reported to have ‘gone spare’ at hearing of your latest attempt to bring shame and humiliation on the family.

3. eccentric, irrational.

1973

T. Lewis Billy Rags [ebook] I acted a bit spare as though I hadn’t understood very much of what he’d said.

In phrases

go spare (v.)

to lose one’s temper, to act crazily.

1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 169: When he saw what I had done he went spare.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 80: The full strength is I went spare.
1963		C. Wood ‘Spare’ in Cockade (1965) I iii: No wonder Fred went spare – brother to a Kuke.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 201: Spare, to go To react violently.
1981		S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 37: He’ll think he’s Shakespeare and go fucking spare.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] Then a voice came out of the sitting room. [...] ‘Shut up that singing, will ye?’ I just went fuckin spare. ‘This is me ma’s home. She can sing if she wants to, right?’.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 21: Back doon at HQ everyone in the canteen’s gaun fuckin spare about the holiday memo.
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 72: His Mam would go spare if she found out.
2000		R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] Blythe was going almost spare at the end of the bed.
2009		J. Joso Soothing Music for Stray Cats 19: Dad would’ve gone spare if he’d realised, but then he went spare anyways.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

spare boy (n.) [ety. unknown; ? the sugar gives one extra energy, the equivalent of an assistant]

(Aus. rural) treacle, golden syrup.

1945

Baker Aus. Lang. 81: Consider, for example, these slang names for treacle and golden syrup: longtail, spare boy, Kidman’s blood mixture, Kidman’s joy, beetle bait, black jack, bullocky’s joy, cocky’s joy and tear-arse.

spareribs (n.)

(US black) a very thin person.

1971

(con. 1930s–50s) D. Wells Night People 118: Spareribs. A real skinny fellow.

spare tyre (n.) (also rubber tire, spare tire)

1. the roll of flesh that surrounds an overweight stomach; ocaas. used of the neck.

1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 743: The other lady, the one with the diamonds and the spare tire round her waist.
1956		‘Ed Lacy’ Men from the Boys (1967) 38: He slapped my bare stomach. ‘Still got your rubber tire.’.
1960		N. Hilliard Maori Girl 235: That’s my spare tyre, in case I get a puncture!
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 210: Tire The abdomen.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 279: Within moments the first yellow glops appeared. Johnny LeTigre’s spare tyre.
1998		J. O’Connor Salesman 21: Your daughter could live a deal longer than yourself [...] ’specially if you don’t lose a bit of that spare tyre.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 271: I’ll take mine [i.e. coffee] white and creamy. Who cares if I get a spare tire?
2004		Observer Mag. 13 June 62: If only we could [...] send our unwanted ‘spare tyres’ and ‘love handles’ to sub-Saharan Africa.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 506: [T]he tattoo on his generous spare tyre of neck suet looked like a label sticking out of a coat’s collar.

2. (US) an unwelcome or irrelevant person, a boring person.

1926		Judge (NY) 91 July-Dec. 31: Spare Tire - A girl who is asked out only when there is no one else around.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS 506/1: spare tire [...] Any dull, disliked individual, a bore. Since c. 1945.

3. (N.Z. prison) an officer still completing their training.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 173/2: spare tyre n. a prison officer in the process of completing his training, undertaking work experience.