spaniel
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English spaynol, from Old French espaigneul (modern French épagneul), from Old Occitan espaignol, from Vulgar Latin *Hispāniolus (“Spanish”), from Hispānia (“Spain”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]spaniel (plural spaniels)
- Any of various small to medium-sized breeds of gun dog having a broad muzzle, long, wavy fur and long ears that hang at the side of the head, bred for flushing and retrieving game.
- A cringing, fawning person.
- c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 33, column 1:
- Pro[theus]. […] Yet (Spaniel-like) the more ſhe ſpurnes my loue, / The more it growes, and fawneth on her ſtill;
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Dutch: spaniël
Translations
[edit]dog breed
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Verb
[edit]spaniel (third-person singular simple present spaniels, present participle spanielling or spanieling, simple past and past participle spanielled or spanieled)
- To follow loyally or obsequiously, like a spaniel.
- c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- Antony: Do we shake hands.—All come to this!—The hearts / That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave / Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
- J. Sedgewick (1840) Timon, but not of Athens, page 200: “Always spanielling at the heels of power, the mitred Dignitaries displayed, from first to last, the most rancorous hostility against her.”
- David S. Bell (2000) Presidential Power in Fifth Republic France, →ISBN, page 30: “Hence Duverger's famous question about de Gaulle's first spanielling Prime Minister makes political ('M. Debré, existe-t-il?'), but not constitutional sense.”
- Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn (2003) The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, →ISBN, page 65:
- The genre which differed from the world in order to advocate a better one - or the genre which spanielled at heel the sensationalist virtual reality world we will now arguably inhabit till the planet dies - had become by 2000, in triumpth or defeat or both, an institution for the telling of story.
Anagrams
[edit]Portuguese
[edit]Noun
[edit]spaniel m (plural spaniels)
- spaniel (any of several dog breeds bred to flush out game)
Spanish
[edit]Noun
[edit]spaniel m (plural spaniels or spaniel)
- a spaniel
Swedish
[edit]Noun
[edit]spaniel c
- A spaniel.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Old Occitan
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ænjəl
- Rhymes:English/ænjəl/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- en:Dogs
- English spelling pronunciations
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- pt:Dogs
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish nouns with multiple plurals
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns