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Spar vs Spaz - What's the difference?

spar | spaz |

As nouns the difference between spar and spaz

is that spar is a rafter of a roof while spaz is a stupid person.

As verbs the difference between spar and spaz

is that spar is to bolt, bar while spaz is to have a tantrum or fit.

spar

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . Perhaps also compare (l), (l).

Noun

(en noun)
  • A rafter of a roof.
  • A thick pole or piece of wood.
  • (obsolete) A bar of wood used to fasten a door.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.11:
    • The Prince staid not his aunswere to devize, / But, opening streight the Sparre , forth to him came […].
  • (nautical) A general term denoting any linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff.
  • (aeronautics) A beam-like structural member that supports ribs in an aircraft wing or other airfoil.
    • Derived terms
    * spar buoy * spar deck * spar torpedo

    Verb

  • (obsolete, or, dialectal) to bolt, bar.
  • To supply or equip (a vessel) with spars.
    • Derived terms
    * oversparred, undersparred

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (sparr)
  • To fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=April 15 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=After early sparring , Spurs started to take control as the interval approached and twice came close to taking the lead. Terry blocked Rafael van der Vaart's header on the line and the same player saw his cross strike the post after Adebayor was unable to apply a touch.}}
  • To strike with the feet or spurs, as cocks do.
  • To contest in words; to wrangle.

    • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) spar, .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mineralogy) any of various microcrystalline minerals, of light, translucent, or transparent blee, which are easily cleft
  • (mineralogy) any crystal with no readily discernible faces.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    spaz

    English

    Alternative forms

    * spazz

    Noun

    (spazzes)
  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) A stupid person.
  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) A hyperactive person.
  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) An incompetent person.
  • * (Tiger Woods), 2006
    • “I was so in control from tee to green, the best I’ve played for years… But as soon as I got on the green I was a spaz .”
  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) A tantrum, a fit.

    • Usage notes

    (Spastic) In addition to being insulting to the target, the term itself is offensive to some due to associations with disability (especially cerebral palsy in the UK); compare (retard), (tard). Offensiveness differs between the UK and the US: it is quite offensive in the UK, while completely inoffensive in the US, acting as a synonym for silly/hyper. It is most widely used as a playground term of abuse, both of people with disabilities and children generally. Among adults, particularly in the United States, it can be seen as gentle ribbing or self-deprecation, as in the Tiger Woods quote, but can cause offense, and is recommended against in public. The s-word, by Damon Rose, BBC News, 12 April 2006

    Related terms

    * spack * spastic

    See also

    * (l) * (l)

    Verb

  • (slang, pejorative, offensive) To have a tantrum or fit.
  • (slang, offensive) To malfunction, go on the fritz.

    • Usage notes

    The sense “to malfunction” is the only sense that is not insulting to the object, and is cognate to (spasm) (compare (seize up)), but still may cause offense due to connections with (spastic).

    References

    Anagrams

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