spare
7
5.0
In bowling, knocking down all ten pins with two rolls in a frame
- noun
- /spɛr/
- Jargon
:
spare
- After my first throw, I managed to get a spare and raised my score.
Examples
-
A strike is better than a spare, right?
-
Double or nothing, I can pick up that spare.
-
- If you get a spare, we go ahead.
-
A strike, a spare, and eight.
Fiction book (2001) -
You can still pick up that spare.
-
You can still make a spare.
-
Yeah, I got a couple spares.
-
I got a spare!
-
Pick up the spare.
-
He scored a spare when he knocked down all the pins on his second roll.
Idioms
Compounds
How Difficult
split
6
7.0
- Jargon
6
7.0
spare
7
5.0
- Jargon
7
5.0
Surface Forms
Etymology
Spare in bowling comes from the same idea of things being 'left': after the first roll some pins are 'left', and getting a spare means you knocked down those remaining pins with the second roll.