spaniel
See also: Spaniel
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French espaigneul (modern French épagneul), from Old Occitan espaignol, from Vulgar Latin *Hispāniolus (“Spanish”), from Hispānia (“Spain”).
Pronunciation
Noun
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.
- 1595: Shakespeare, William, The Two Gentlemen of Verona Act IV, Scene II
- Proteus: Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love,/The more it grows and fawneth on her still.
- 1595: Shakespeare, William, The Two Gentlemen of Verona Act IV, Scene II
Derived terms
Translations
dog
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Verb
spaniel (third-person singular simple present spaniell, present participle ing or spanieling, simple past and past participle spanieled or spanieled)
- To follow loyally or obsequiously, like a spaniel.
- 1606: Shakespeare, William, The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra
- 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.
- 1606: Shakespeare, William, The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra
Anagrams
Portuguese
Noun
spaniel m (plural s)
- spaniel (any of several dog breeds bred to flush out game)
Spanish
Noun
spaniel m (plural spaniels or spaniel)
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Old French
- 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
- Rhymes:English/ænjəl
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English verbs
- en:Dogs
- 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