spay

English

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.

Alternative forms

• spaie [1500s]
• spave (archaic)
• spaye [1500s–1600s]
• spey

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: spā, IPA^(key): /speɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophone: Spey

Verb

spay (third-person singular simple present spays, present participle spaying, simple past spayed, past participle spayed or (obsolete) spade)

1. (transitive) To destroy or remove the ovaries and/or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy.

   Synonym: (obsolete except Ireland, Lancashire, Shropshire) splay

   We’re having our cat spayed as we don’t want her having kittens.

   • 2016 November 13, Britt Peterson, “The Case Against Cats”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     With their eye on non-island countries, namely America, the authors of Cat Wars argue for a combination of spay/neuter programs, enclosed sanctuaries, and euthanasia.

Synonyms

• castrate, emasculate (for a male)
• geld (used almost always of animals, especially male horses)
• neuter (used only of animals, especially pets)
• sterilize (used for all species and for both genders)

Translations

remove the ovaries

• Czech: kastrovat (cs) impf, vykastrovat (cs) pf
• Dutch: steriliseren (nl)
• Finnish: steriloida (fi)
• German: sterilisieren (de), Eierstöcke oder Gebärmutter entfernen, kastrieren (de)
• Greek: στειρώνω (el) (steiróno)
• Hungarian: ivartalanít (hu)
• Italian: sterilizzare (it), rimuovere le ovaia, asportare le ovaia, castrare (it), ovariectomia (it) f
• Manx: spoiy
• Polish: sterylizować (pl)
• Russian: стерилизова́ть (ru) (sterilizovátʹ), удаля́ть яи́чники (udaljátʹ jaíčniki)
• Scottish Gaelic: spoth
• Spanish: esterilizar (es)
• Swedish: kastrera (sv)

Noun

spay (plural spays)

1. The act of spaying an animal.
   • 1997 July 28, Sharon Talbert, “spay/abortion of pregnant cats”, in rec.pets.cat.rescue‎^[2] (Usenet):

     I was queasy about my first spay of a far-gone feral and left it up to my vet.

References

• “spay, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Etymology 2

See spayard.

Noun

spay (plural spays)

1. Rare spelling of spayard.

References

• “spay” listed as a variant spelling of “spaya(ɹ)d, spayd”, listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Etymology 3

Verb

spay (third-person singular simple present spays, present participle spaying, simple past and past participle spayed)

1. Alternative form of spae (to foretell or divine)

Anagrams

• APYs, AsPy, Pays, aspy, pays, pyas, yaps

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch speye; compare Middle Dutch spoye.

Alternative forms

• spey, speye

Noun

spay (plural spayes)

1. sluice

References

• “†spay, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Etymology 2

See spayen.

Verb

spay (third-person singular simple present spayeth, present participle spayinge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle spaied)

1. alternative infinitive of spayen.

References

• “spay, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Scots

Etymology

From Northern Middle English spā, from Old Norse spá (“to foretell, prophesy”), from Proto-Germanic *spahōną, *spehōną (“to observe”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Cognate with Old High German spehōn (“to peer, spy”) (whence German spähen), Middle Dutch spien, spieden (“to spy”) (whence Dutch spieden). More at spy.

Noun

spay (plural spays)

1. A prophecy; omen

Verb

spay (third-person singular simple present spays, present participle spayin, simple past spayed, past participle spayed)

1. Alternative form of spae