sparring

Verb (1)

spar (third-person singular simple present spars, present participle sparring, simple past and past participle sparred)

1. (dialectal, obsolete) To bolt, bar.
   • The church dores were sparred,
     Fast boltyd and barryd,
     Yet wyth a prety gyn
     I fortuned to come in, […]c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 64, lines 91–94
2. (transitive) To supply or equip (a vessel) with spars.

Verb (2)

spar (third-person singular simple present spars, present participle sparring, simple past and past participle sparred)

1. To fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat.
   • 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.2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 04 Sep 2016
2. To strike with the feet or spurs, as cocks do.
3. To contest in words; to wrangle.

See all 15 meanings of spar