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Spay
//speɪ// noun, verb
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The act of spaying an animal.
"I was queasy about my first spay of a far-gone feral and left it up to my vet."
- 2 Rare spelling of spayard. alt-of, rare
Verb
- 1 To destroy or remove the ovaries or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy. transitive
"We’re having our cat spayed as we don’t want her having kittens."
- 2 Alternative form of spae (to foretell or divine) alt-of, alternative
- 3 remove the ovaries of wordnet
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English spayen, spaien, from the Anglo-Norman espeier, equivalent to the Old French espeer (“to cut with a sword”), from espee (“sword”), whence the Modern French épée.
Etymology 2
From Middle English spayen, spaien, from the Anglo-Norman espeier, equivalent to the Old French espeer (“to cut with a sword”), from espee (“sword”), whence the Modern French épée.
Etymology 3
See spayard.
See also for "spay"
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