▪ I. † spay, n. Obs. rare.
Also spey(e.
[a. MFlem. speye (14th cent., also in F. texts espeye; Kilian spije; mod.WFlem. speie, spei), related to MFlem. spoye (Kilian spuje, Flem. and Du. spui) in the same sense.]
A sluice. (Cf. spayer.)
| 1415 in Riley Mem. Lond. (1868) 615 [A watergate, called a] scluys, [or a] speye. 1429 Cov. Leet Bk. 121 The residu of the money spended apon the makyng of the Town dyche, & the spey atte Gosford yate. 1451 Ibid. 258 The whiche portecoles, Spayes & Cheynes ben made & myche part of the dykes clansed. |
▪ II. spay, v.
(speɪ)
Also 5–6 spaie, 6–7 spaye, 7, 9 spey; pa. pple. spade.
[ad. AF. espeier, = OF. espeer to cut with a sword, f. espee (F. épée) sword.]
† 1. trans. To pierce or cut (a deer) so as to kill. Obs.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) Prol., And after whann the hert is spaied and dede he vndothe hym. Ibid. xxxiii, Þen shulde who so be moste maister þere byd somme of þe hunters go spay hym euen behynde þe shulder forwarde to þe herte. |
2. To operate upon (a female, esp. the female of certain animals) so as to remove the ovaries and destroy the reproductive power.
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xi, And bycause þei shuld not lese her tyme, men make hem yspayed, saue þose men will kepe open to bere whelpes. 1576 Turberv. Venerie lxvi. 186 The kydneys whiche Gelders take awaye from a bytche..when they spaye hir. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 150 b, The sowes are spaied by burning the matrixe with an irone. ? c 1600 Distr. Emperor ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. (1884) III. 188 If she had been spayd And all mankynd made Euenucks. 1639 T. de la Grey Expert Farrier Ep. Ded., A gelder who spayes more then a hundred fillies. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 247 [He] knew..When Sows and Bitches may be spade. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Bitch, But if you would spay your Bitch, it must be done before ever she has a Litter of Whelps. 1799 [A. Young] Agric. Linc. 297 He..spays about half the heifers. 1820 Shelley Œd. Tyr. i. 72 Out with your knife..and spay those Sows That load the earth with Pigs. 1879 Duncan Clin. Lect. Dis. Women iv. 48 Lastly, it has of late years frequently been decided to spay women in this disease. |
| fig. a 1658 Cleveland Gen. Poems (1677) 10 Geld your loose wits, and let your Muse be spade. |