spavins

Noun (1)

spavin (countable and uncountable, plural spavins)

1. (countable) A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet, caused by inflammation of the cartilage connecting those bones; also, a similar swelling caused by inflammation of the hock bones.
   • [H]is horſe hip'd vvith an olde mothy ſaddle, and ſtirrops of no kindred: beſides poſſeſt vvith the glanders, and like to moſe in the chine, troubled vvith the Lampaſſe, infected vvith the faſhions, full of VVindegalls, ſped vvith Spauins, raied vvith the Yellovvs, […]c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
2. (uncountable) A disease of horses caused by this bony swelling (etymology 1, noun sense 1.1).
   • [N]ovv the Bots, the Spauin, and the Glanders, and ſome doſen diſeaſes more, light on him, & his Moyles.1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, signature B2, verso
3. (broadly, uncountable) A similar disease causing a person's leg to be lame.
   • "As an inventor," Bob Mason suggested, "you're a howling success at shooting craps! If I were as free of spavins, ringbone, saddle-galls, and splints as you are, I'd have that nanny-goat in here, hog-tie her, flop her and let the boy help himself. Why monkey with weak imitations when you can come...[1920], Peter B[ernhard] Kyne, chapter XII, in The Understanding Heart, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp Clark Co., →OCLC, page 202

Noun (2)

spavin (plural spavins)

1. (rare, transitive) The stratum of earth underneath a coal deposit.

See all 6 meanings of spavin