ˈspaning, vbl. n. north. and Sc.
[f. spane v.]
The action of weaning, suspending, etc.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 467/1 Spanynge, or wenynge of chylder, ablactacio. c 1440 Alph. Tales 23 When þe childe was att spanyng, þis brewster doghter broght it vnto hym & lefte it with hym. 1516 Burgh Rec. Edinburgh (1869) I. 164 Vnder the payne of spayning fra the occupatioun for yeir and day. 1529 Ibid. (1871) II. 6 [For] the thrid falt, spanyng of thar operatione. 1565 J. Knox Sermon 24 b, This weaning (or spaning as we terme it) from worldly pleasure, is a thing straunge to the flesh. 1653 in Laing Lindores Abbey (1876) 224 Took as weill w{supt} the spaining..as any bairne could doe. 1898 E. W. Hamilton Mawkin ix. 107 The spaning of the lambs was by with. |
b. attrib., as spaning-lamb, spaning-time; spaning brash, weaning-brash; also transf., a disease which attacks corn in the early stages of its growth.
| 1416–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 317 Pro spanyng lambes. 1447 Ibid. 319 Cum ij spanynglamez et j Antonlam. 1549 York Wills (Surtees) VI. 296 To..my servaunte, one spaninge quie calf. 1562 Will of Benson (Somerset Ho.), A lamb at spanyng tyme. 1582 Durham Wills (Surtees) II. 58, xx lambes, to be delivered the next spaninge tyme after my deathe. 1721 Ramsay Richy & Sandy 40 At spaining time, or at our Lambmass feast. 1828 Moir Mansie Wauch xxiii, All the dunts and tumbles of infancy—to say nothing of the spaining-brash and the teeth-cutting. |