▪ I. spavin, n.1 Farriery.
(ˈspævɪn)
Forms: α. 5 spaueyne, -veyne, spavayne, 6 spauain. β. 6 spauen, speven, 6–7 spaven, -ing, spauin, 6– spavin (9 Sc. spaivin).
[ad. OF. espavain (cf. med.L. spavenus, It. spavenio), var. of esparvain, esprevain, esprevin (mod.F. éparvin, épervin), of obscure origin.]
1. A hard bony tumour or excrescence formed at the union of the splint-bone and the shank in a horse's leg, and produced by inflammation of the cartilage uniting those bones; a similar tumour caused by inflammation of the small hock bones.
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 18226 With that fall..I cawht a great spavayne vpon my lege, whiche made me for to halt. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 467/2 Spaveyne, horsys maledy. 1523 Fitzherb. Husbandry §107 A courbe..appereth..a lyttell benethe the spauen. 1551 T. Wilson Logike ii. N j b, We can se a spauain, a splent, a ring bone, or suche other disease in a horse. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 53 His horse..troubled with the Lampasse, infected with the fashions, full of Windegalls, sped with Spauins. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. lii. (1668) 63 A splent is a bony excression under the knee.., the spaven is the like on the inside of the hinder hough. 1633 Marmion Fine Companion iv. i, I am afraid this dancing will breed spavins in my legs. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1270/4 A Roan Nag,..a little spavin on the off leg behind. 1741 Complete Family-Piece iii. 435 The Spavin..appears in like Manner on the Shank Bone behind, not far below the Hough. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Spavin, When the spavin was pressed hard on the inside of the hough, there was a small tumor on the outside. 1825 C. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 321 Having put out a spavin. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. xxv, Sir Peter shows an incipient spavin on the off leg, and I think he'd be well sold. 1896 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 262 My attention was drawn..to one of the worst spavins I ever saw on the near hock of one of them. |
b. A malady of horses due to the above cause. Also transf.
| c 1500 Rowlis Cursing 52 in Laing Anc. Poet. Scotl., The pokkis, the spaving in the halss, The panefull gravell and the gutt. 1594 Greene & Lodge Looking Gl. 265 G.'s Wks. (Grosart) XIV. 18 If he haue outward diseases, as the spavin, splent, ring-bone,..we let him blood. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster i. ii, Now the bots, the spauin, and the glanders, and some dozen diseases more, light on him, and his moyles. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 152/2 The Spaven [is] an old Halt, which is left as the Horse warms in Travel. 1706 in Phillips (ed. Kersey). 1831 Youatt Horse 270 The lameness of spavin..abates, and sometimes disappears, on exercise. 1874 Sir W. W. Hunter in Skrine Life (1901) xiii. 229 A cast cavalry charger who gets rid of his spavin the moment he is drummed out of the regiment. |
2. With distinguishing terms, as blood spavin, a soft swelling or enlargement of the hock vein caused by the accumulation of blood; freq. taken as synonymous with bog spavin (see bog n.1 4); bone spavin or dry spavin (see bone n. 17 and prec. 1); through spavin or wet spavin (see through- 2).
ox-spavin, in some 18th c. works, is a rendering of F. éparvin de bœuf, and app. had no real currency in English.
| 1523, 1565 [see through- 2]. 1580 Blundevil Horsemanship iii. 57 b, The drie spauen..is a great hard knob, as big as a Walnut, growing in the inside of the hough, hard vnder the ioint. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 406 Of the Spauen there are two kindes, the one hard the other soft: that is: a bone-Spauen, and a blood-Spauen. 1639 T. de la Grey Expert Farrier 90 We have two sorts of spavens: the one we call a through, wet, bloud or bog-spaven; the other a dry, or bone-spaven. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1346/4 A grey Nag,..a thorow spavin on the fore-leg before. 1831 Youatt Horse 179 The distension reaches from this bag as low down as the next valve. This is called a blood-spavin. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 449 Constituting puffy swellings, called bog spavin. 1885 Field 4 Apr. 453/1 The connection between the ‘blood spavin’ and the ‘thoroughpin’ is proved by pressing on the swelling in front. |
3. attrib., as † spavin-joint, spavin-place, spavin-vein, the joint, etc., usually affected by spavin, or where a spavin commonly occurs.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §118 If a horse wante wartes behynde, benethe the spauen-place. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 407, I haue knowne diuers..helpt onley by taking vppe the Spauen vaine. 1623 Markham Cheap Husb. (ed. 3) 47 For the smals of his hinder legges somewhat below the spauin ioynts. 1682 Lond. Gaz. No. 1724/4 A hurt not quite cured on the in-side of the Spaven Joint of the near Leg behind. 1688 Ibid. No. 2355/4 A dapple grey,..full jointed in both his hinder Legs, in the Spavin place. |
Hence ˈspavin v. trans., to affect with the spavin. rare—1.
| 1867 Burton Hist. Scot. vi. (1873) I. 215 The village hag who spavins the horse. |
▪ II. spavin, n.2 Coal-mining.
(ˈspævɪn)
[Of obscure origin.]
(See quots.)
| 1870 Eng. Mech. 14 Jan. 423/3 Roots were found in the spavin or under clay. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 230 Spavin, clunch, or ordinary bottom or underclay. |