spay
English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]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
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: spā, IPA(key): /speɪ/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪ
- Homophone: Spey
Verb
[edit]spay (third-person singular simple present spays, present participle spaying, simple past spayed, past participle spayed or (obsolete) spade)
- (transitive) To destroy or remove the ovaries or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy.
- Synonym: (obsolete except Ireland, Lancashire, Shropshire) splay
- We’re having our cat spayed as we don’t want her having kittens.
- 2016 November 13, Britt Peterson, “The Case Against Cats”, in The Atlantic[1]:
- With their eye on non-island countries, namely America, the authors of Cat Wars argue for a combination of spay/neuter programs, enclosed sanctuaries, and euthanasia.
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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Noun
[edit]spay (plural spays)
- The act of spaying an animal.
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(ɹ)d, spayd”, listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]
Etymology 3
[edit]Verb
[edit]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
[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, first-/third-person singular past indicative 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 *spahōną, *spehōną (“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
[edit]spay (plural spays)
Verb
[edit]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
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- Rhymes:English/eɪ/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English rare forms
- 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