Word.ws English Dictionary

spinney

spinney noun: a small copse or wood, especially one planted as a shelter for game birds.

Noun (1)

spinney (plural spinneys)

  1. (UK) A small copse or wood, especially one planted as a shelter for game birds.
    • “H'm !" he said, "so, so — it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney...1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London...
    • I've never hunted myself, but I understand that half the battle is being able to make noises like some jungle animal with dyspepsia, and I believe that Aunt Dahlia in her prime could lift fellow-members of the Quorn and Pytchley out of their saddles with a single yip, though separated from them by...1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

Noun (2)

spinney (plural spinneys)

  1. Synonym of spinnaker.
    Synonyms:
    spinnaker

Proper noun capitalized: Spinney

Spinney (plural Spinneys)

  1. A surname.

spinney meaning in Tamil and Kannada

spinney in Tamil

புதர்க்காடு, சிறுமரக்காடு

spinney in Kannada

ತೋಪು, ಕಿಗ್ಗಾಡು, ಕುರುಚಲು ಕಾಡು

Examples of spinney in a sentence

  • It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin...
  • Freda, the German undermatron, once discovered him sunbathing nude in the spinney.1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 16:

Synonyms of spinney

Forms of spinney

Noun
pluralspinneys
alternative formspinny
Proper noun
pluralSpinneys

Origin of spinney

From Middle English spenné, from Middle French espinoye (“thorny thicket”), espinaye, from Latin spīnētum (“thorny thicket”), from Latin spīna (“thorn”).

Clipping of spinnaker + -y.

Questions about spinney

What does spinney mean?
Spinney means a small copse or wood, especially one planted as a shelter for game birds.
What is spinney in Tamil?
Spinney in Tamil is புதர்க்காடு, சிறுமரக்காடு. See Spinney meaning in Tamil.
How do you use spinney in a sentence?
It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”
What part of speech is spinney?
Spinney can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of spinney?
The plural of spinney is spinneys.

Words near spinney in the dictionary

  1. spinnery
  2. spinnest
  3. spinnet
  4. spinneth
  5. spinnets
  6. spinney
  7. spinneys
  8. spinnier
  9. spinnies
  10. spinniest
  11. spinniken

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spinney (page history and authors); Spinney (page history and authors); spinney (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); spinney (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

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

Cite this entry: “spinney.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spinney. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.