Also 4 sperr, 4–6 sperre; 4–7 sparre, 4, 6–8 sparr. [A word of Continental origin, appearing in the following forms: MDu. sparre, spar, spaer (Du. and WFris. spar), MLG. sparre, spare, spar (LG. spar, spaar), OHG. sparro (MHG. sparre, G. sparren, † sparre, † sparr), ON. sparri (Norw., Sw., Da. sparre); also MDu. and WFlem. sperre, sper, ON. (Icel. and Norw.) sperra (older Da. sperre), NFris. spêr, spär. The type sparre is the source of OF. esparre (mod.F. dial. épare), which may partly have contributed to the adoption of the word in English.]
1. One of the common rafters of a roof. Now chiefly dial.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8796. We haf soght forest bath ner and ferr For to sek a maister sparr [Gött. sperr].
c. 1340. Nominale (Skeat), 443. Cumble, heez et cheueroun, Roof, firstre and sparre.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 132. He wan the cite aftur, And rente doun bothe wal, and sparre, and raftur.
1402. Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 77. Envie … reuyd hath oure houses, that unnethes the hillinge hangith on the sparres.
a. 1490. Botoner, Itin. (Nasmith, 1778), 260. Item the yerdys called sparres of the halle ryalle contenyth yn length about 45 fete of hole pece.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 580. The gilt sparres, and the beames then threw they down.
1598. Bp. Hall, Sat., V. i. A silly cote, Whose thatched spars are furred with sluttish soot.
1647. Herrick, Noble Numb., Thanksgiving to God. A little house, whose humble Roof Is weather-proof; Under the sparres of which I lie Both soft, and drie.
1666. Spurstowe, Wiles of Satan, 24. What shall the spars and rafters do, if the pillars of the building tremble.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 985. The laths to be well nailed to spars (common rafters).
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 125. Height of the wall … to the sill, 6 ft. Length of the spars, 15 ft.
1854–. in dial. glossaries (Northampt., Chesh., Northumbld.).
† b. Her. = CHEVRON sb.1 2. Obs.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Her., f j b. We haue sotheli in armys certan signys the wich ar calde Cheuerons in french … and in english a cowpull of sparris.
2. A pole or piece of timber of some length and moderate thickness; spec. an undressed stem of fir or similar wood under six inches in diameter.
1388. in Nicolas, Hist. Royal Navy (1847), II. 476. xx. sparres de keyne, xiiii. plankes & shelles de keynes.
1392. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 156. Pro x hurdell, ij sparrez, ij bulters pro officio suo in naue.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxv. 460. He caught a sparre of Oke with bothe hondes.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., iii. 130. Thou must spend many a spar this wark or thou wyn To end fully.
1513. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., IV. 481. For … sperris to mak hand spakis of.
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 1047. Of a spyndell I wyll make a sparre.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., IX. 138. Who tooke the Oliue sparre, made keene before, And plung’d it in his eye.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1679), 27. Mr. Blith makes Sparrs, and small building-Timber of Oaks of eleven years growth.
1708. J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 15. We must have either Oaken Spars, or Firr bawks.
1795. Phil. Trans., LXXXV. 579. These platforms … were always made horizontal at the time of levelling, by means of a mahogany spar, or straight-edge.
1848. Layard, Nineveh, ix. (1850), 239. Loading a small raft with spars and skins for the construction of a larger.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 139/2. Fishing Spars, in artillery material, consist of spars of wood placed parallel to the spars to be strengthened, by lashing them to one another.
fig. 1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, XV. cccxxvi. (1702), 243. Their Eyes will know no Lid, But make the beams recoil, the spars retreat.
b. Without article, as a material.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, 25. The trestle-trees … are confined in a temporary manner by pieces of spar.
3. † a. A bar of wood used to fasten a gate or door. Obs. (Cf. SPAR v.1)
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. xi. 4. The Prince … opening streight the Sparre, forth to him came.
1611. Cotgr., Barre, a barre, or sparre, for a doore.
1647. Hexham, I. The sparre or bolt of a doore.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. x. § 4. 257. Bolt, Barr, Sparr.
† b. fig. A prop or support. Obs.–1
1630. Lord, Banians, 80. Hee gained great fame, whereunto his diuining fortunes became such a Sparre, that he was made King of Delee.
c. A spoke, bar or cross-bar.
In Scotland commonly applied to the bars or rails of a wooden fence or gate.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. The Spars of a spinning Wheel.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Spars are also the spokes of a Spinning-wheel.
1825. Jamieson, Suppl., Dog-rung, one of the spars which connect the stilts of a plough.
1882. Stevenson, New Arab. Nts. (1884), 306. ‘What’s all this?’ cried the … host through the spars of the gate.
4. Naut. ‘The general term for all masts, yards, booms, gaffs, etc.’ (Young, 1846).
The comb. CANT-SPAR is found somewhat earlier (1611).
1640. in Entick, London (1766), II. 170. Spars: Bonnispars [sic]. Cantspars. Small spars.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, 43. Cant Spars, Ratling Spars, Boom Spars, Middling Spars, Small Spars.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xvii. We next sent ashore our spare spars and rigging.
1863. P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 226. The spars will be slight, sufficient merely to give steadiness to the ship at sea.
1878. T. L. Cuyler, Pointed Papers, 173. When the first blow of the cyclone tears our canvas from the spars.
fig. 1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xvii. Three young stock-brokers … sent this little spar out of the wreck with their love to good Mrs. Sedley.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, i. Thus clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea.
5. attrib. and Comb., as spar-batten, -bridge, -pole, -raft, -wood; spar-maker.
1504. in Gage, Hist. & Antiq. Suffolk, 140. The rofes to be sper batens, and jopies.
1578. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 306. Longe sparre poles of ffurre.
1752. Records Elgin (New Spald. Cl.), I. 464. Ilk cart load of sparwood or logs.
1798. Survey of Province of Moray, 100. Sparwood … about 7 inches diameter, is sold at 7d. the solid foot.
1860. Sat. Rev., 28 July, 110/1. The master sparmaker, master blacksmith, and timber inspector represented Mr. Maclay.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 394/2. Spar Bridge, a light bridge for crossing broken arches, rivers with steep banks, &c.
1880. Northwestern Lumberman, 24 Jan. More than the usual number of spar rafts will be prepared this winter.
6. Special combs., as spar-buoy (see quot. 1883); † spar-dry a., perfectly dry (land); spar-dust (see quot.); † spar foot, a horizontal piece of wood supporting the lower end of a rafter; spar-naked a., stark naked; spar-piece (see quot.); spar shed, a ship-building shed in which spars are stored; spar-torpedo, a torpedo fastened on the end of a spar projecting from the bows of the boat; spar-yard, a yard in which ship-spars are prepared.
1860. Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 94. A *spar-buoy moored in 11 feet.
1883. Chambers’s Jrnl., 8 Dec., 772/1. It [a spar-buoy] is so designed that a spar or mast stands almost perpendicularly out of the water.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 338. Thenne oure fader to þe fysch ferslych biddez, þat he hym sput spakly vpon *spare drye.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, *Spar-dust,… powder of post; dust produced in wood by the depredation of boring insects.
1579. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 311. xliiij copple of *sparr feete eche … iiij foote longe.
1849. Blackw. Mag., LXV. 610/2. The poor fellow was *spar-naked.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., *Spar-piece, a name given in some places to the collar beam of a roof.
1883. Daily News, 4 July, 5/4. The scene at the *spar shed where the bodies are laid out for identification was one of intense sadness.
1878. H. Pasha, in N. Amer. Rev., CXXVII. 384. Several other attacks by steam-launches armed with the *spar-torpedo were made on the Turkish squadrons.
1868. Whitman, Song of the Broad-Axe, iii. Poems 188. Spar-makers in the *spar-yard.
