Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SPAR'ING, ppr.

1. Using frugally; forbearing; omitting to punish or destroy.
2. adj. Scarce; little. Of this there is with you sparing memory, or none. – Bacon.
3. Scanty; not plentiful; not abundant; as, a sparing diet.
4. Saving; parsimonious. Virgil being so very sparing of his words, and leaving so much to be imagined by the reader, can never be translated as he ought in any modern tongue. – Dryden.