spare tire
a tire used or kept available as an emergency replacement on a vehicle.
Informal. excess fat around the waistline.
Origin of spare tire
1Words 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
The truck’s full-size spare tire stows in a bin beneath the bed.
The Rivian R1T breaks the electric-pickup game wide open | Dan Carney | September 28, 2021 | Popular-ScienceInside the engine compartment, underneath the spare tire in the trunk, and any junctures where the car is put together might accumulate outside trash that doesn’t belong.
Don’t get hosed by hidden water damage when buying a used car | Tony Markovich/The Drive | September 7, 2021 | Popular-ScienceIt’s gonna help us get by, but if we think that we can try to drive with a spare tire for too long, the car is going to break down somewhere else.
Democrats Promised to Transform Health Care. But Their Relief Bill Hands the Health Care Industry a Big Win | Abigail Abrams | March 3, 2021 | TimeThe well where your spare tire lives is perfect for a small battery or nonessential gear.
How to Build Out Your Subaru Forester for $350 or Less | Madeleine LaPlante-Dube | October 15, 2020 | Outside OnlineThe reason I carry around the (defensible, I tell myself) spare tire that I do is cheese.
The Freedom to Be Fat? The Politics of Movie Popcorn, Obama, and the FDA | Michael Tomasky | April 8, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
I managed to rank some one out of a spare tire and started back again.
War in the Garden of Eden | Kermit RooseveltRupert was already leaning over the back, dragging free a spare tire; Gerard slipped out of his seat.
From the Car Behind | Eleanor M. IngramThere 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 KennedyHe throbbed fiercely just behind the spare tire, with his face bent down into a rich travelling cloud of gasoline exhaust.
Pipefuls | Christopher MorleyWe 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
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.
Browse