spavin

noun

1. (countable)A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet, caused by inflammation of the cartilage connecting those bones; also, a similar swelling caused by inflammation of the hock bones.

   “[H]is horſe hip'd vvith an olde mothy ſaddle, and ſtirrops of no kindred: beſides poſſeſt vvith the glanders, and like to moſe in the chine, troubled vvith the Lampaſſe, infected vvith the faſhions, full of VVindegalls, ſped vvith Spauins, raied vvith the Yellovvs, […]”

   “Of ſpauens, there be tvvo kindes, the bone Spauen and the blood: for the bone Spauen, you ſhall dreſſe it in all things like the ſplent, and it vvil heale it. For the bloud ſpauen you ſhall take vp the veane, and vvhen it hath bled vve pull out the bladder vvhich holdes the ſpauen, and ſtop the vvound vvith Sage and ſalt, and it vvill heale it.”

   “Mr. Field had seen the same horses brought to his forge from day to day, and year to year, with large spavins, yet continuing perfectly sound.”

2. (uncountable)A disease of horses caused by this bony swelling (etymology 1, noun sense 1.1).

   “[N]ovv the Bots, the Spauin, and the Glanders, and ſome doſen diſeaſes more, light on him, & his Moyles.”

3. (broadly, uncountable)A similar disease causing a person's leg to be lame.

   “"As an inventor," Bob Mason suggested, "you're a howling success at shooting craps! If I were as free of spavins, ringbone, saddle-galls, and splints as you are, I'd have that nanny-goat in here, hog-tie her, flop her and let the boy help himself. Why monkey with weak imitations when you can come so close to the original."”

4. (rare, transitive)The stratum of earth underneath a coal deposit.

verb

1. (rare, transitive)To cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2).

   “Mr. Lythe had seen many horses which Mr. Field had passed as sound although they were spavined; and he does not recollect a single instance of lameness among them.”

   “The witches that dance on the Brocken on Valpurgis Eve would be spoken of in a different spirit from the village hag who spavins the horse and curdles the milk.”

   “And oh! Onesiphorus, the old brown mare / Is spavining for love, as also we; […]”

   “The plaintiff introduced evidence tending to prove that the horse was spavined, and that Kuntzman had warranted the soundness of the horse. The fourth exception on the part of the defendant and the plaintiff in error was to the rejection of the evidence that the horse was not spavined while in Weaver's stable, some two months after the sale.”

   “In order to obviate the straining, spavining, and weakness of back, to which horses are subject, caused by the effort of starting heavy cars, Mr. Henry P. Holt designed a tramcar starting gear, patented in May, 1879, […]”

2. (figuratively, rare, transitive)To impair or injure (someone or something).

   “But Ahab; oh he’s a hard driver. Look, driven one leg to death, and spavined the other for life, and now wears out bone legs by the cord.”

   “[Fridtjof] Nansen, having accomplished nearly as much as these Americans without spavining his health or business instincts, published a book, negotiated with the Major, got out three-sheet posters of himself in modest costume and self-effacing language, and is now able to address large, long-eared and appreciative audiences at the rate of twenty dollars a minute.”

   “It [a dinghy] should be as large and sturdy as means of hoisting aboard and securing will permit, but light and handy enough to launch without spavining the mate's back.”