spavin
To cause to have spavinTo cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2).
Meaning
2 senses(rare, transitive)To cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2).
(figuratively, rare, transitive)To impair or injure (someone or something).
Origin
The noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causinThe noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”), from Old French espavain, a variant of esparvain, esprevain, esprevin (modern French éparvin, épervin). The further etymology is unknown; one suggestion is that it is from Frankish *sparwan (“sparrow”), though this is seen as quite tenuous.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
spavins, spavining, spavined, spavinedLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.