I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a spare battery (= an extra one, in case you need it )
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Take a torch and spare batteries.
a spare bed (= a bed for visitors to your home )
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Come and stay any time – we have a spare bed.
a spare key (= an extra key )
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Never hide your spare key under the doormat.
a spare moment (= short period of time when you are not doing other things )
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She spent every spare moment in the library.
a spare tyre
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Always carry a spare tire.
free/spare time
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He spends all this free time watching television.
going spare
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I’ll take that if it’s going spare .
spare a moment (= used when asking someone if they have a short time available to spend with you )
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Can you spare a moment to go through some figures with me?
spare cash
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You should put any spare cash into a savings account.
spare no expense (in doing sth) (= spend a lot of money to buy the best things )
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Her parents spared no expense in arranging the wedding.
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Everything has been provided tonight – no expense has been spared!
spare part
spare ribs
spare room
spare sb the ordeal of sth (= not make someone have to do something difficult )
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Thank goodness she was spared the ordeal of surgery.
spare sb’s life (= not kill someone, when you could kill them )
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She begged him to spare the life of her son.
spare tyre
the spare bedroom (= for visitors )
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She set up a home office in the spare bedroom.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
battery
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It may include parts of larger support weapons such as mortars, radio equipment and spare batteries .
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Make sure you have a supply of spare batteries too.
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Carrying spare batteries could be a cheaper option to fast charging and all chargers rely on a power point anyway.
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Some people take a fully charged spare battery along with them just in case!
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You don't have long between dives, so take spare batteries .
bed
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One of us is nearly always away at weekends, so there would be a spare bed .
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Non-sailing companions are welcome at any of our resorts if spare beds are available.
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And I accept the offer of a spare bed .
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Hang it up in a wardrobe, lay it flat on a spare bed or roll it very loosely.
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I've got a spare bed .
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Be prepared to give up your spare bed more than once in 1993.
bedroom
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We still had two rooms left to decorate: those intended as a spare bedroom and playroom.
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After fifteen minutes Pat went back to the spare bedroom .
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She came to the spare bedroom , the one she had spent that first unforgettable night in, and slipped inside.
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About 25 million people are working from spare bedrooms , paneled basements and converted garages.
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Then the cross-shaped glazing bars of the window told him he was in the spare bedroom of Number 29.
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Turning a spare bedroom into a family room with an outdoor deck?
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She would still have a spare bedroom , quite enough for the modest entertaining she proposed to do in her widowed state.
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I tried to sleep in the spare bedroom .
capacity
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Smaller companies that can't afford these luxuries can sometimes arrange to use spare capacity on the network of a nearby multinational.
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In the meantime fundholding practices can use the spare capacity that exists.
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Despite planned closures, the continuing decline in demand will continue to generate spare capacity .
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Much also depends on how much spare capacity there actually is in manufacturing industry.
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A final difference with the Marshall era is the lack of spare capacity in the developed world.
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These non-critical elements can be either spread throughout the time-scale or tackled when spare capacity is available.
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Foster Yeoman sees potential in selling spare capacity on its trains to other users.
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One of the hospitals in Grampian had spare capacity in radiology and made a presentation to the fundholding group.
car
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And they say any spare cars are being snapped up by foreign buyers.
cash
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In fact all the games mentioned were inexpensive, they had to be, few people had spare cash for inessentials.
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We had three children in quick succession, and no spare cash .
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Any spare cash he preferred to donate to more worthy causes.
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I know people don't have any spare cash at the moment so thought this would be a good alternative.
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If I ask for extra to buy baby clothes, he says he doesn't have the spare cash .
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Past boy friends who could use a bit of spare cash .
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So, whenever you have some spare cash to hand, pay it into Premier Savings and watch it grow.
change
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A spare change of underclothing is desirable for those who value comfort.
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Homeless children scrounge for spare change , and newspapers carry ads from people offering their kidneys for cash.
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The bottom line: That guy on the street asking for spare change is actually doing you a favor.
clothes
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I'd got no money, no night things, no spare clothes , no bank card.
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She was dressed quite nice, did she have spare clothes , after all?
copy
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As a final resort, ask your class teachers whether they have a spare copy to lend you.
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First, begin by taking a spare copy of the proposal and removing each section for separate use and examination.
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Retain a spare copy for your file.
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Have some spare copies of your phonology or grammar write-ups to give to anyone interested.
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There was a pile of spare copies on a table in the entrance hall.
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The court makes up a record card from the spare copy summons lodged.
hour
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Don't feel guilty when you have a spare hour with no meetings, no mail and no interruptions.
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In my spare hours , I drew up Ned's terms of severance and thought nervously about my own.
key
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Remember that I had always intended to leave spare key with the Twills next door but never got round to it.
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Eventually, the spare key was found and they were released from the clutches of the car.
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So this was his spare key , the one he kept at the Vicarage.
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It had temporarily slipped my mind, but some one did have a spare key some while ago.
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Do you leave spare keys in hiding places outside the house?
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Leave a spare key with a trustworthy neighbour.
minute
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Determined to do well, she studied in every available spare minute to gain her Chartered Institute of Insurers qualification.
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This is undertaken by supporters of the project who are works employees during the spare minutes they may have available.
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She'd made a point of spending every spare minute she could with her.
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You've probably noticed how she spends every spare minute practising her putting.
moment
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Hatton had done the journey in the shortest possible time, leaving no possible spare moment for undercover activities.
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I mean, there is always a spare moment or two when one needs a break from digging, or sawing.
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For the past year has spent her spare moments studying for an Open University degree in science and technology.
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Keep the data on flashcards and put in your pocket to look at in spare moments .
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Plan your periods of relaxation; relax in spare moments before you get tired.
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Endill spent every spare moment he had in the library.
money
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In any case if I had any spare money it would go on clerical assistance.
pair
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Not surprisingly, a spare pair of legs.
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A spare pair of trunks had been annoyingly found.
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A spare pair of stockings or tights should always be handy as nothing looks so unattractive as laddered tights.
part
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Ian MacDonald and he had stripped down the old wreck and searched junk yards for spare parts .
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It was very evident that there were no supplies or spare parts available.
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When selecting equipment to buy, one should make sure that servicing facilities are good and spare parts are quickly obtainable.
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Key resources are technical personnel and aircraft spare parts which account for the largest share of the maintenance budget.
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Approval will be given for spare parts for ships, naval helicopters and naval planes.
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The sheer cost of trained staff and the difficulties with obtaining spare parts are two indications of the absurdity of the idea.
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What a good idea to go round collecting all the spare parts !
rib
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Trim spare ribs of any excess fat, then place in a large roasting tin.
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Pour the barbecue sauce over the spare ribs .
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The food was good: a thin soup followed by pork spare ribs .
room
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He was lying in bed in Miles and Juliet's spare room .
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Every spare room became a coveted rental unit.
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We had tried cycling, skipping and jogging and we both had an exercise bike in the spare room .
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He had left the fire on in the spare room .
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We must furnish our spare room at once if this sort of thing is to happen often.
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Back in the spare room there were problems.
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Gyggle would store me in a spare room of the hospital and keep me under twenty-four-hour observation while I was unconscious.
set
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The call would have given some one the chance to replace the spare set in the security cupboard here.
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She must remember to buy a spare set .
time
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He was indeed a carpenter, and spent his spare time carving small wooden toys for his children.
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We had some spare time , so we started messing around with samples and sequencers and stuff.
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In many schools, teachers are spending their spare time fund-raising and making equipment to support the new Curriculum.
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And, in their spare time , San Diegans evidently go to the gym.
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She didn't sew herself, so she had an acquaintance from a theatrical costumiers run them up in his spare time .
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In his spare time , Grigsby gave legal advice to the Black Panthers.
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I continued teaching for about 18 months, keeping up my studies for an M.A. in my spare time .
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But then he discovered Art, and began to paint in his spare time and make etchings.
tyre
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Thank goodness for my spare tyre , I can afford to lose a bit of that.
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Their companion, in his 20s, had an old, noisy van with a smiling face logo on the spare tyre .
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If only he took as much exercise as I did he wouldn't have that spare tyre , I thought unsympathetically.
wheel
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They had no spare wheel and petrol was low.
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Boots often leak, so take a look in the spare wheel well and at the metalwork beneath the fuel tank.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
spare a thought for sb
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But spare a thought for Helen Williams.
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But whereas Errol struck it lucky, spare a thought for Instonian Neil Cooke.
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Let us take a moment this Advent to spare a thought for what the poorest of our world are waiting for.
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While all these contrivances give us the pleasure of moving water, we must spare a thought for the plants beneath.
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Whilst knitting your designs you might spare a thought for Giant Pandas now very much an endangered species.
with time to spare
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In spite of the bad traffic, we reached London with plenty of time to spare.
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She arrived at the hospital with little time to spare.
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And not such a bad parent-always with time to spare, always eager to please, often funny.
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But with time to spare, we rummaged around.
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I became that vet with time to spare.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a spare bass guitar line
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A lot of kids don't have enough to do in their spare time, and that's when they get into trouble.
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a precise, spare style of writing
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All cars have to carry a spare tyre by law.
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Are there any spare chairs we can borrow?
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I always leave a set of spare keys with my neighbor.
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I need 50 cents for the parking meter - do you have any spare change?
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I put my spare change in a charity collection box.
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It seemed like every time I turned around, some bum was hitting me up for spare change.
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Pauline keeps a spare key hanging in the closet upstairs.
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Some couples will start married life in a spare room at the home of one set of parents -- usually the bride's.
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the artist's spare use of color
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We're using the spare bedroom as a storage space.
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We've got a spare sleeping bag that you can borrow.
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We carried Ros upstairs and laid her on the spare bed.
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We have two spare tickets for the game - do you want to come?
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You can stay with us, we have a spare bedroom.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And I noticed that in the wardrobe was a spare pillow.
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Elastogran will take over sales of spare parts and the service of all polyurethane processing machines and plants already supplied by Desma.
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Every spare room became a coveted rental unit.
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Ian MacDonald and he had stripped down the old wreck and searched junk yards for spare parts.
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In his spare hours, he played the flute and read a great deal of poetry.
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In his spare time Gavin competes in various rallies.
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It was very evident that there were no supplies or spare parts available.
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Some of his best work, on glaciation and on Old Red Sandstone, was done in his spare time.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
blush
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We will spare the blushes of those forecasters' who notched up the biggest errors.
cash
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Morris, which has more than £10 billion cash to spare , would not comment.
detail
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They hoped to be spared the details .
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We promise to spare none of the details of their angst and their agony through the season.
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Flanner is rather sparing about details of Picasso's personal life, knowing it to be so extensively documented.
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Although we are spared the details , it resulted in all the barbed wire on the course being removed.
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And kindly spare me the details .
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I spared no details - there was no good reason why I should.
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You will be relieved to hear that I shall spare you the details of these arguments on this occasion.
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He spares us the details , saying only that she was tall, well-built.
effort
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She was often ill, and Hubert spared no effort to make her well again.
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It attracted more retail savings than even the government, which spares no effort to tap the market.
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The owner has spared no money or effort in keeping everything up to class A1 condition.
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If you suspect you will be facing a greater daemon spare no effort to acquire the Banishment spell.
embarrassment
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He collects it from the door when it arrives to spare her the embarrassment of being seen by the boy.
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Meredith was relieved to be spared the embarrassment of unavoidable eavesdropping.
expense
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No expense was spared to produce a station worthy to stand beside the other civic buildings.
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Neither expense nor time was spared to assure our sequestration.
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He says that everything has been laid on tonight, no expense spared .
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Quite obviously no expense was spared .
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In truth no expense will be spared to royally entertain the guests on board the Champagne Orient Express.
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Private, constant attendance, no expense spared .
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No expense has been spared to make each home the ultimate in luxury.
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But that doesn't mean this is a lavish, no expense-spared production.
hour
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Kate sat down, hashed it out and handed it in with half an hour to spare .
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When you find you have only a few hours to spare you can choose the best swim for that particular period.
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I was packed and ready, and I arrived at the station on Christmas night with an hour to spare .
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She bought first-class tickets and still had half an hour to spare .
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But the patient was having treatment and couldn't see visitors so he had an hour to spare .
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All accounted for and two and a half hours to spare .
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Type 8 I have half an hour to spare before I need go.
minutes
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And he had deliberately caught his flight with just minutes to spare .
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Even Marshall had brushed aside all suggestions of having a few minutes to spare to give Harbury something exclusive.
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Eventually he arrived, with minutes to spare , wearing a ridiculous sort of check hat.
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With four minutes to spare , Haringey gets a rate-56% higher than last year.
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She'd made the deadline with minutes to spare .
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If you have five minutes to spare , plug in Super Mario and spend half an hour trying to rescue the princess!
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He boarded the express with two minutes to spare .
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We arrived at the club with minutes to spare .
moment
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But if you have a moment to spare before you do catch the bus, be sure to pop in.
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Let us take a moment this Advent to spare a thought for what the poorest of our world are waiting for.
money
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Begin to see yourself as some one with plenty of money to spare .
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They maintain the government will have money to spare by 2011.
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We don't smoke or drink, so we have some money to spare .
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But millions of people do it anyway, even when they have little money to spare .
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None of the officers had much money to spare so practically all their clothes were hand made, including their uniforms.
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Work out how much money you have to spare each month. 3.
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On the whole these attract students with some money to spare .
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A year to make some money in could be spared from all the time in the world.
ordeal
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Luckily the police have spared me the ordeal of telling Proby, and also kept my bones intact.
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Just as well that she had been at least spared the ordeal of having to face him this morning.
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But she was spared from that ordeal when Anthony Bourgois pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment and carrying a knife.
over
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Haynes then steered the tourists to an easy victory with more than 11 overs to spare .
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Smith went on to 61, the winning runs coming with 16.1 overs to spare .
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A convincing one-day success was wrapped up with 15 overs to spare as Cheshire outplayed the Duchy in every respect.
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They reached their goal with five overs to spare .
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But they recovered well, and had almost five overs to spare when the winning runs were hit.
pain
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He knew all his effort was worthwhile, if it could spare future generations the pain of this disease.
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He had had a very hard time indeed to persuade the King, but he had spared no pains .
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Within a few days, I was spared the pain of making any immediate decisions about my future.
room
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You could stand the Statue of Liberty inside it and lay the Eiffel Tower alongside with room to spare .
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He has passed the first three tests on the way to the presidency with room to spare .
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She could have set the Alice Liddell down comfortably on any of them, with room to spare .
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It is furnished with everything I might ever need and there are always rooms to spare .
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It was a large place, with room enough and to spare for all of them.
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It held the coin collection with room to spare .
thought
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But whereas Errol struck it lucky, spare a thought for Instonian Neil Cooke.
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Whilst knitting your designs you might spare a thought for Giant Pandas now very much an endangered species.
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Let us take a moment this Advent to spare a thought for what the poorest of our world are waiting for.
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No self-respecting Zen-Buddhist spares a second thought for it.
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But spare a thought for Helen Williams.
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While all these contrivances give us the pleasure of moving water, we must spare a thought for the plants beneath.
time
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I do not have the time to spare to meander through mountains.
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Kenyon wound up shaving not one but three seconds off the start-up time , sparing a hundred extra souls from the Reaper.
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Unfortunately, I haven't very much time to spare .
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With time to spare , the Age Bulgers dominated all levels of politics and made sure their special interests came first.
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All those below were too busy and had not time to spare to comfort him with a few minutes' companionship.
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You can help by arriving either on time or with a little time to spare .
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But with time to spare , we rummaged around.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Dad, can you spare a fiver?
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I'm afraid we can't spare the staff. Everybody's busy right now.
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If anyone can spare a couple of hours a week to help out, it would be much appreciated.
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Luckily, the hostages' lives were spared.
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We don't have very much coffee, I'm afraid, but we can spare you a little.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Although we are spared the details, it resulted in all the barbed wire on the course being removed.
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And if not, yet I will not spare of what I have sworn touching Parfois.
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But he could spare no time, not knowing how long he might be allowed to talk to Jason.
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Certainly nothing was spared to make her happy - if money, and attention, and general spoiling could do that.
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Haynes then steered the tourists to an easy victory with more than 11 overs to spare .
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He had had a very hard time indeed to persuade the King, but he had spared no pains.
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They reached their goal with five overs to spare .
III. noun
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
with time to spare
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In spite of the bad traffic, we reached London with plenty of time to spare.
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She arrived at the hospital with little time to spare.
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And not such a bad parent-always with time to spare, always eager to please, often funny.
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But with time to spare, we rummaged around.
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I became that vet with time to spare.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
I brought two batteries just in case I needed a spare .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Build quality seemed good and there are now enough agents in this country to make servicing and spares less of a worry.
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Sanctions meant he could no longer import spares but the value of his existing stock had increased tenfold.
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She noted, however, that spares for aircraft can be produced by companies other than the original manufacturer.
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The reason is now obvious, a pair of robins had nested in the electrical spares rack.
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They are sold by many electrical retail outlets, and spares are easy to carry.
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Within a minute, the spare was in place.