spavin

American  

[spav-in] / ˈspæv ɪn /

noun

Veterinary Pathology.

1. a disease of the hock joint of horses in which enlargement occurs because of collected fluids bog spavin, bony growth bone spavin, or distention of the veins blood spavin.

2. an excrescence or enlargement so formed.

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spavin British  

/ ˈspævɪn /

noun

1. vet science enlargement of the hock of a horse by a bony growth ( bony spavin ) or fluid accumulation in the joint ( bog spavin ), usually caused by inflammation or injury, and often resulting in lameness

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Etymology

Origin of spavin

1400–50; late Middle English spaveyne < Old French ( e ) spavain, esparvain swelling < ?

Example Sentences

For 19 years he tended the ring bone and spavin of Brooklyn carriage horses, got in with the politically right people.

From Time Magazine Archive

It may occur on the back part of the leg above the fetlock or on the inner and fore part of the hock, corresponding in its location to windgalls and bog spavin of the horse.

From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry

On its outer surface it presents a vein which is quite prominent, running from below upward, and it is to the preternatural dilatation of this blood vessel that the term blood spavin is applied.

From Special Report on Diseases of the Horse by Michener, Charles B.

Treatment.—Treatment of spavin in the ox, as in the horse, is likely to be tedious, and not always resulting in perfect cure.

From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry

Evidently given to wind-gall, spavin, and splint, he—the horse, not the driver—was to an unpractised eye decidedly a jibber; while even a female ear would have detected that he was a roarer.

From Original Penny Readings A Series of Short Sketches by Fenn, George Manville