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.
Meanings
The act of spaying an animal.
I was queasy about my first spay of a far-gone feral and left it up to my vet. 1997 July 28, Sharon Talbert, “spay/abortion of pregnant cats”, in rec.pets.cat.rescue (Usenet):
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.
Meanings
(transitive) To destroy or remove the ovaries or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy.
We’re having our cat spayed as we don’t want her having kittens.
With their eye on non-island countries, namely America, the authors of Cat Wars argue for a combination of spay/neuter programs, enclosed sanctuaries, and euthanasia. 2016 November 13, Britt Peterson, “The Case Against Cats”, in The Atlantic:
es esterilizar (remove the ovaries) · it asportare le ovaia (remove the ovaries) · it castrare (remove the ovaries) · it sterilizzare (remove the ovaries) · cs kastrovat (remove the ovaries) · fr stériliser (remove the ovaries) · hu ivartalanít (remove the ovaries) · fi steriloida (remove the ovaries) · de kastrieren (remove the ovaries) · sv kastrera (remove the ovaries) · gd spoth (remove the ovaries) · cs vykastrovat (remove the ovaries) · el στειρώνω (remove the ovaries) · pl sterylizować (remove the ovaries) · it rimuovere le ovaia (remove the ovaries) · gv spoiy (remove the ovaries) · it ovariectomia (remove the ovaries) · cmn 卵巢切除術 /卵巢切除术 (remove the ovaries) · ru стерилизова́ть (remove the ovaries) · nl steriliseren (remove the ovaries) · ru удаля́ть яи́чники (remove the ovaries) · de sterilisieren (remove the ovaries) · cs sterilizovat (remove the ovaries)