noun
Meaning 1
The act of spaying an animal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
spay
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: spā
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Received-Pronunciation: /speɪ/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -eɪ
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homophone: spae
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homophone: Spey
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CMU ARPABET: S P EY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Rare form of spayard.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To destroy or remove the ovaries or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- We’re having our cat spayed as we don’t want her having kittens.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: splay
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
Alternative form of spae (to foretell or divine)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
remove the ovaries of
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- Is your cat spayed?
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: alter, neuter, castrate
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sterilize, sterilise, desex, unsex, desexualize, desexualise, fix
Narrower terms: defeminize, defeminise
History
Etymology
From Middle English spayen, spaien, from the Anglo-Norman espeier, equivalent to the Old French espeer (“to cut with a sword”), from espee (“sword”), whence the Modern French épée.
See spayard.
Across languages
Translations
23 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Chinese: 卵巢切除術 /卵巢切除术 — remove the ovaries
- Czech: kastrovat — remove the ovaries
- Czech: vykastrovat — remove the ovaries
- Czech: sterilizovat — remove the ovaries
- Dutch: steriliseren — remove the ovaries
- Finnish: steriloida — remove the ovaries
- French: stériliser — remove the ovaries
- German: sterilisieren — remove the ovaries
- German: kastrieren — remove the ovaries
- Greek: στειρώνω (steiróno) — remove the ovaries
- Hungarian: ivartalanít — remove the ovaries
- Italian: sterilizzare — remove the ovaries
- Italian: rimuovere le ovaia — remove the ovaries
- Italian: asportare le ovaia — remove the ovaries
- Italian: castrare — remove the ovaries
- Italian: ovariectomia — remove the ovaries
- Manx: spoiy — remove the ovaries
- Polish: sterylizować — remove the ovaries
- Russian: стерилизова́ть (sterilizovátʹ) — remove the ovaries
- Russian: удаля́ть яи́чники (udaljátʹ jaíčniki) — remove the ovaries
- Scottish Gaelic: spoth — remove the ovaries
- Spanish: esterilizar — remove the ovaries
- Swedish: kastrera — remove the ovaries