sparable
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English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Adjective[edit]
sparable (comparative more sparable, superlative most sparable)
- Alternative form of spareable
Etymology 2[edit]
From sparrowbill, in reference to its shape, like a sparrow's beak.
Noun[edit]
sparable (plural sparables)
- A small headless nail used in making shoes (especially the heels).
- 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 183:
- [H]e was sometimes seen disputing with the cobbler, his opposite neighbour, about the charge of two-pence; and refusing to pay Crispin's demand, unless he put three or four more sparables in the heels of the shoes which he had mended twice before!