spence

¹ American  

[spens] / spɛns /

noun

British Dialect.

1. a pantry.

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Spence ² American  

[spens] / spɛns /

noun

1. a male given name, form of Spencer.

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spence ¹ British  

/ spɛns /

noun

1. dialect

   1. a larder or pantry

   2. any monetary allowance

   3. a parlour, esp in a cottage

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Spence ² British  

/ spɛns /

noun

1. Sir Basil ( Unwin ). 1907–76, Scottish architect, born in India; designed Coventry Cathedral (1951)

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Etymology

Origin of spence

1350–1400; Middle English spense, spence < Middle French despense pantry < Medieval Latin dīspēnsa, noun use of feminine of dīspēnsus, past participle of dīspendere to weigh out; see dispense

Example Sentences

The spence, aphetic for dispense, is now known only in dialect— "I am gaun to eat my dinner quietly in the spence."

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest

It consisted of three apartments,—the cow-house at one end, the kitchen or house in the middle, and the spence at the other end. 

From Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland A.D. 1803 by Shairp, John Campbell

The thresher's weary flingin-tree, The lee-lang day had tired me; And when the day had clos'd his e'e, Far i' the west, Ben i' the spence, right pensivelie, I gaed to rest.

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert

And Elspy, the sewster, sae genty— A pattern of havens and sense— Will straik on her mittens sae dainty, And crack wi' Mess John in the spence.

From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume I. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century by Rogers, Charles

"Is that you blethering away in there, John?" cried a high female voice from the spence.

From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Munro, Neil