spay

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.

• spaie
• spave (archaic)
• spaye
• spey

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophone: Spey

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:

     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.

• 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)

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 (Usenet):

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

• “spay, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary

See spayard.

spay (plural spays)

1. Rare spelling of spayard.

• “spay” listed as a variant spelling of “spaya(ɹ)d, spayd”, listed in the Oxford English Dictionary

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)

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

From Middle Dutch speye; compare Middle Dutch spoye.

• spey, speye

spay (plural spayes)

1. sluice

• “†spay, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary

See spayen.

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.

• “spay, v.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary

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.

spay (plural spays)

1. A prophecy; omen

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

1. Alternative form of spae