spavin

Meanings

1. 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.
2. A disease of horses caused by this bony swelling (etymology 1, noun sense 1.1).
3. A similar disease causing a person's leg to be lame.

1. To cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2).
2. To impair or injure (someone or something).

1. The stratum of earth underneath a coal deposit.

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”), from Old French espavain, a variant of esparvain, esprevain, esprevin (modern French éparvin, épervin). The further etymology is unknown; one suggestion is that it is from Frankish *sparwan (“sparrow”), though this is seen as quite tenuous. The verb is derived from the noun.