word of the day: spavin

The word of the day is spavin:

noun

1. a disease of the hock joint of horses in which enlargement occurs because of collected fluids (bog spavin) bony growth (bone spavin) or distention of the veins (blood spavin)

2. an excrescence or enlargement so formed.

 

Origin

Old French (e) spavain, esparvain swelling (dictionary.com)


"And that was when
the blighted times we live in first began,
the dying rivers and
the blackened vine,
the rain that rots the seed in its furrow,
the spavin, the sheep scab,
the empty hive."

 - Linda Gregerson, "Ceres lamenting", 4 August 2014 The New Yorker