spange

See also: Spange

English

Etymology

Blend of spare +‎ change, from stereotyped phrase “spare change?”, “[can you] spare any change?”

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /speɪnd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -eɪndʒ

Verb

spange (third-person singular simple present spanges, present participle spanging, simple past and past participle spanged)

1. (US, intransitive) To beg, particularly using the phrase “spare change?”
   • 1996, Tim “Salvage”, quoted in Ian Fisher, “Erin’s looking for Leg-Rub Steve. Fly’s looking for CD’s to steal. Star’s looking for Jaya. And it’s starting to get cold.”

     I don’t spange much because I really don’t like doing it. I eat out of trash cans a lot.

   • 2009, Kelly Myers, 33, quoted in Joe Deegan, “Nowhere To Go”, San Diego Reader

     Then my father would send all us kids out to ‘spange’ [beg for spare change]. You could sometimes make $50 a day by spanging. Other days you might make a dollar.

Usage notes

Often used to refer to one’s own activities, without pejorative sense. Compare spanger, often used pejoratively to refer to others.

Derived terms

• spanger
• spanging

References

• Word Watch, The Atlantic, April 1997, by Anne H. Soukhanov, executive editor of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition.

Anagrams

• paseng, pegans