spaniel
Americannoun
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one of any of several breeds of small or medium-sized dogs, usually having a long, silky coat and long, drooping ears.
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a submissive, fawning, or cringing person.
noun
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any of several breeds of gundog with long drooping ears, a silky coat, and formerly a docked tail See clumber spaniel cocker spaniel field spaniel springer spaniel Sussex spaniel water spaniel
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either of two toy breeds of spaniel See King Charles spaniel
-
an obsequiously devoted person
Other Word Forms
- spaniellike adjective
Etymology
Origin of spaniel
1350–1400; Middle English spaynel < Old French espaignol Spanish (dog), derivative of Espaigne Spain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Checks by officers established the identity of the brown and white spaniel who was handed back to her "very happy" owners.
From BBC
Three members of Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team, along with the spaniel's owner and a local deer stalker, made a search the following morning when she was found and rescued.
From BBC
Thor woke from his nap just when Laurence was finishing the last bath, which was for an inky spaniel named Webster.
From Literature
The cost of the treatment pushed her over her insurance limit and meant she could not cover the English springer spaniel's cancer treatment via her policy when he was diagnosed in October 2025, she said.
From BBC
However, the black and white spaniel still happily greeted her rescuers with a wagging tail which "pulled on the heartstrings", she said.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
