Spence

//ˈspɛns// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A buttery or pantry. UK, dated, dialectal

    "'I expect it was a dog which got into the spence and licked up the junket and ate the biscuits,' put in the old turf-cutter. 'I would lock and bar the spence-door, if I were you, the next time I put such nice things in there.'"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Short form of the male given name Spencer.
  2. 2
    A surname.
  3. 3
    A suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
  4. 4
    A locality in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia.
  5. 5
    A ghost town in Magnetawan township, Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada.

Synonyms

All synonyms
dairylarder

Example

More examples

"'I expect it was a dog which got into the spence and licked up the junket and ate the biscuits,' put in the old turf-cutter. 'I would lock and bar the spence-door, if I were you, the next time I put such nice things in there.'"

Etymology

From Middle English spence, spense, borrowed from Middle French despense, from Medieval Latin dīspēnsa, noun use of feminine of Latin dīspēnsus, past participle of dīspendere (“weigh out”).

Related phrases

Spences Bridgegiven name

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.