through which a cask is filled or emptied and which is closed by a plug (the bung).
1642 G. TORRIANO Select Italian Proverbs 50 He holdeth in at the spicket, but
letteth out at the bunghole. 1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 193 Spare at the spigget, and
let it out at the bung-hole. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 299 Spare at the Spiggot,
and let out at the Bung Hole. Spoken to them who are careful and penurious in some
trifling Things, but neglective in the main Chance. 1885 E. J. HARDY How to be Happy
though Married xiii. People are often saving at the wrong place. .. They spare at the
spigot, and let all run away at the bunghole. 1935 H. ZINSSER Rats, Lice & History xvi.
It is all a part of the strange contradictions between idealism and savagery that
characterize the most curious of all mammals. It leads to the extraordinary practice of
what is spoken of as ‘saving at the spigot and wasting at the bung’. 1966 L. BEERS Wild
Apples & North Wind xxvii. That might fix it now, but next summer you’d be in as bad a
squeeze. .. If you save at the spigot you lose at the bung. getting and spending; wasteSPARE the rod and spoil the childAnd introduces a consequence. With allusion to PROVERBS xiii. 24 (AV) He that spareth
his rod, hateth his son.
c 1000 AELFRIC Homilies (1843) II. 324 Se the sparath his gyrde [stick], he hatath
his cild. 1377 LANGLAND Piers Plowman B. v. 41 Salamon seide.. Qui parcit virge, odit
filium. The Englich of this latyn is.. Who-so spareth the sprynge [switch], spilleth [ruins]
his children. 1560 Nice Wanton A1V He that spareth the rod, the chyld doth hate. 1639 J.
CLARKE Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina 161 Spare the rod and spoyle the child. 1876 I.
BANKS Manchester Man II. vii. ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’ had not been
abolished from the educational code fifty-five years back. 1907 E. GOSSE Father & Son
ii. This action [caning] was justified, as everything he did was justified, by reference to
Scripture—’Spare the rod and spoil the child’. 2002 Oldie Aug. 64 It was good to hear..
how the Lord Chamberlain, the wonderfully named Sir Norman Bodkin, changed ‘Spare
the rod and spoil the child’ to ‘Spare the cane and spoil the child.’ children; disciplineSPARE well and have to spend1541 M. COVERDALE tr. H. Bullinger’s Christian State of Matrimony xix. Spare as
though thou neuer shuldest dye and yet as mortall spend mesurably. To spare that thou
mayest haue to spend in honestye for goodes sake. 1635 J. GORE Way to Welldoing 25 A
good sparer makes a good spender. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 297 Spare when
you’re young, and spend when you’re old. .. He that saveth his Dinner will have the more
for his Supper. 1832 A. HENDERSON Scottish Proverbs 16 Spare weel and hae weel.