spaniel

[span-yuh l]

noun

one of any of several breeds of small or medium-sized dogs, usually having a long, silky coat and long, drooping ears.

a submissive, fawning, or cringing person.

Origin of spaniel

1350–1400; Middle English spaynel < Old French espaignol Spanish (dog), derivative of Espaigne Spain

Related formsspan·iel·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for spaniel

Historical Examples of spaniel

As one of his friends said of him, he was “either a lion or a spaniel.”
Mary Wollstonecraft
Elizabeth Robins Pennell
Eighty miles is too far even for a spaniel to find its way back!
The Widow's Dog
Mary Russell Mitford
The spaniel and pug (p. 182) are most liable to bronchocele.
The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I.
Charles Darwin
He is not a spaniel that you can beat, and then whistle back again.
White Lies
Charles Reade
And going abruptly to the bell, he trod on his spaniel's ear.
The Country House
John Galsworthy

British Dictionary definitions for spaniel

spaniel

noun

any of several breeds of gundog with long drooping ears, a silky coat, and formerly a docked tailSee clumber spaniel, cocker spaniel, field spaniel, springer spaniel, Sussex spaniel, water spaniel

either of two toy breeds of spanielSee King Charles spaniel

an obsequiously devoted person

Word Origin for spaniel

C14: from Old French espaigneul Spanish (dog), from Old Provençal espanhol, ultimately from Latin Hispāniolus Spanish

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for spaniel

13c., as a surname meaning "Spaniard;" as a name for a breed of dog of Spanish origin, late 14c., from Old French espagneul, literally "Spanish (dog)," from Vulgar Latin *Hispaniolus "of Spain," diminutive of Latin Hispanus "Spanish, Hispanic" (see Spaniard).