spay
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English spayen, spaien, from the Anglo-Norman espeier, equivalent to the Old French espeer (“to cut with a sword”), from espee (“sword”), whence the Modern French épée.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
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- Rhymes: -eɪ
Verb
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) so that it cannot become pregnant.
Synonyms
- 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
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References
- “spay, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Etymology 2
See spayard.
Noun
spay (plural spays)
- Rare spelling of spayard.
References
- “spay” listed as a variant spelling of “spaya(ɹ)d, spayd”, listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Etymology 3
Verb
spay (third-person singular simple present spays, present participle spaying, simple past and past participle spayed)
- Alternative form of spae (to foretell or divine)
Anagrams
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch speye; compare Middle Dutch spoye.
Alternative forms
Noun
spay (plural spayes)
References
- “†spay, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Etymology 2
See spayen.
Verb
spay (third-person singular simple present spayeth, present participle spayinge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle spaied)
- alternative infinitive of spayen.
References
- “spay, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Scots
Etymology
From Northern Middle English spā, from Old Norse spá (“to foretell, prophesy”), from Proto-Germanic *spahōną, *spēhōną (“to observe”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“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
spay (plural spays)
Verb
spay (third-person singular simple present spays, present participle spayin, simple past spayed, past participle spayed)
- Alternative form of spae
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old French
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English rare forms
- English terms with multiple etymologies
- Middle English terms borrowed from Middle Dutch
- Middle English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English verbs
- Scots terms inherited from Middle English
- 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 lemmas
- Scots nouns
- Scots verbs