spare tire

American  

noun

• spare tires
  plural

1. a tire used or kept available as an emergency replacement on a vehicle.

2. Informal. excess fat around the waistline.

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spare tire Idioms  

1. 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]

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• spare tires
  plural

Etymology

Origin of spare tire

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spare tire

Most people would vouch for specific items, such as a spare tire or a lug wrench, if they had limited choices on what to keep in their car every day.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

For Black families on Route 66, the Green Book was as essential as a spare tire.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

No more flatbed, which Joe conceded was mostly pointless with the bulky spare tire filling it up.

From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2025

The next morning, Sylvia finds him shivering and near-incoherent, sitting in a spare tire on the ground.

From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2024

I keep it and a charging cord hidden in Harold’s trunk next to the spare tire.

From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green