Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

sweeny

American  
[swee-nee] / ˈswi ni /
Also swinney

noun

Veterinary Pathology.

  1. atrophy of the shoulder muscles in horses.

sweeny British  
/ ˈswiːnɪ /

noun

  1. vet science a wasting of the shoulder muscles of a horse, esp as the result of a nerve injury

"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

Etymology

Origin of sweeny

An Americanism first recorded in 1820–30; compare dialectal German Schweine, Pennsylvania Dutch Schwinne “atrophy,” Old English swindan “to pine away, disappear”

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.