spay
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
From the Middle English verb spayen.
Alternative forms [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
Verb [edit]
spay (third-person singular simple present spays, present participle spaying, simple past spayed, past participle spayed or (obsolete) spade)
- (transitive) To remove or destroy the ovaries (of an animal) in order that it cannot become pregnant.
Synonyms [edit]
- castrate, emasculate (for a male)
- geld (used almost always of animals, especially male horses)
- neuter (used only of animals, especially pets)
- sterilize (used for all species and for both genders)
Translations [edit]
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References [edit]
- “spay, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Etymology 2 [edit]
See spayard.
Noun [edit]
spay (plural spays)
- Rare spelling of spayard.
References [edit]
- “spay” listed as a variant spelling of “spaya(r)d, spayd”, listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Anagrams [edit]
Middle English [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
From Middle Dutch speye; compare Middle Dutch spoye.
Alternative forms [edit]
Noun [edit]
spay (plural spayes)
References [edit]
- “†spay, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Etymology 2 [edit]
See spayen.
Verb [edit]
spay (third-person singular simple present spayeth, present participle spayinge, simple past and past participle spaied)
- Alternative infinitive of spayen.
References [edit]
- “spay, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Scots [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Northern Middle English spā, from Old Norse spá (“to foretell, prophesy”), from Proto-Germanic *spahōnan, *spēhōnan (“to observe”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peḱ- (“to look”). Cognate with Old High German spehōn (“to peer, spy”) (whence German spähen), Middle Dutch spien, spieden (“to spy”) (whence Dutch spieden). More at spy.
Noun [edit]
spay (plural spays)
Verb [edit]
spay
Derived terms [edit]
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English verbs
- English nouns
- English rare forms
- English terms with multiple etymologies
- Middle English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English verbs
- Scots terms derived from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Old Norse
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Scots nouns
