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

Why, this horse—if you can call such an animal a dignified name like that—has the heaves, a spavin, spring-halt, blind-staggers, and a few other things.

From Dick Hamilton's Fortune The Stirring Doings of a Millionaire's Son by Garis, Howard R.

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

The blood spavin is situated in front and to the inside of the hock and is merely a varicose or dilated condition of the saphena vein.

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

Not a flaw in the mule; no sign of ringbone or spavin, and when a mule ain't got them, he's got nothin' wrong.

From The Garden of Eden by Brand, Max