spare tire

See synonyms for spare tire on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a tire used or kept available as an emergency replacement on a vehicle.

  2. Informal. excess fat around the waistline.

Origin of spare tire

1
First recorded in 1920–25

Words Nearby spare tire

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use spare tire in a sentence

  • I managed to rank some one out of a spare tire and started back again.

    War in the Garden of Eden | Kermit Roosevelt
  • Rupert was already leaning over the back, dragging free a spare tire; Gerard slipped out of his seat.

    From the Car Behind | Eleanor M. Ingram
  • There is a step on each side of the spare tire, one man on each one.

    Warren Commission (2 of 26): Hearings Vol. II (of 15) | The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
  • He throbbed fiercely just behind the spare tire, with his face bent down into a rich travelling cloud of gasoline exhaust.

    Pipefuls | Christopher Morley
  • We limped in, indeed, for we211 had had one of our frequent blowouts, and had no spare tire.

    More Tish | Mary Roberts Rinehart

Other Idioms and Phrases with spare tire

spare tire

Fat around one's middle, as in He's determined to lose ten pounds and that spare tire he's acquired. This expression transfers the term for an extra tire carried in cars in case of a flat tire to excess fat around the waist. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.