Word.ws English Dictionary

spavined

Syllables: spa·vined/ˈspævɪnd/

spavined adjective: of a horse: having spavin (“a disease of horses caused by a bony swelling which develops in a leg due to inflammation”). Also the simple past and past participle of spavin.

Adjective

spavined (comparative more spavined, superlative most spavined)

  1. Of a horse: having spavin (“a disease of horses caused by a bony swelling which develops in a leg due to inflammation”).
    • [H]e […] made a present to Andrew of a broken-winded and spavined poney, in order to enable him to pursue his journey.1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst...
    • A horse-giver, no more than a horse-seller, has a right to palm his spavined article upon us for good ware. An equivalent is expected in either case; and, with my own good will, I would no more be cheated out of my thanks, than out of my money.1833, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “[Popular Fallacies.] XI. That We Must Not Look a Gift-Horse in the Mouth, […].”, in The Last Essays of Elia. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 250
    Synonyms:
    spavindy
    Antonyms:
    unspavined
  2. (broadly) Of a person: lame due to a leg disease.
    Synonyms:
    halt, halting, limping
    Antonyms:
    unspavined
  3. (figuratively) Of a person or a thing: old, worn-out; also, obsolete.
    • I’m a spavined old warrior, and I don’t have much time left in this world, but I still have a few tricks to teach these whippersnappers.
    • If God hide his path, Satan is at hand to turn Convoy: if any have a minde to ride poſte, hee vvill helpe them vvith a freſh ſpavin'd Opinion at every Stage.1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 37

Also used as

spavined is also the simple past and past participle of spavin.

Examples of spavined in a sentence

  • Thumble, […] had ridden over to Hogglestock on a poor spavined brute belonging to the bishop's stable, and which had once been the bishop's cob.1867, Anthony Trollope, “The Bishop’s Angel”, in The Last Chronicle of Barset. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC...
  • A by-stander asked if the horse was not spavined?1876, Samuel S[ullivan] Cox, “Legislative Anecdote—Continued”, in Why We Laugh, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 281:
  • He was mounted on a mangy, shovel-headed horse so spavined that it should have been unable to support his improbable bulk.2010, Stephen R[eeder] Donaldson, Against All Things Ending (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant; 3), New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer]...

Synonyms of spavined

Antonyms

Forms of spavined

comparativemore spavined
superlativemost spavined

Origin of spavined

From Late Middle English spaueyned, from spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives; and the past tense and past participle forms of weak verbs). By surface analysis, spavin + -ed (suffix forming possessional adjectives from nouns, denoting having the objects represented by the nouns; and forming past tenses of regular verbs).

Words formed from spavined

Questions about spavined

What does spavined mean?
Spavined means of a horse: having spavin (“a disease of horses caused by a bony swelling which develops in a leg due to inflammation”).
How do you use spavined in a sentence?
Thumble, […] had ridden over to Hogglestock on a poor spavined brute belonging to the bishop's stable, and which had once been the bishop's cob.
What part of speech is spavined?
Spavined is an adjective.
How do you pronounce spavined?
Spavined is pronounced /ˈspævɪnd/ (UK).

Words near spavined in the dictionary

  1. spaved
  2. Spaven
  3. spaves
  4. spavin
  5. spavindy
  6. spavined
  7. spaving
  8. spavining
  9. spavins
  10. Spavor
  11. spaw

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spavined (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spavined.wav.

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