sb. Also 6, 8 Spau, 6–9 Spaw, 7 Spawe. [A place-name (see sense 1).]
1. With capital. The name of a watering-place in the province of Liège, Belgium, celebrated for the curative properties of its mineral springs. In early use the Spa.
1565. in Burgon, Life Gresham (1839), II. 93. And now do I the more feare the danger of this winter, for that I have now lost the comodity … of going to the Spa for this yere.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 30. Both Silo this, and Iordan did excell, And th’English Bath, and eke the german Spau.
1619. in Eng. & Germ. (Camden), 200. For my health to goe drinke the waters of the Spaw for the few dayes yet remayning of their season.
1665. Verney Mem. (1907), II. 243. The first inst. we arrived att the nasty Spaw, and have now began to drinke the horid sulfer watter.
c. 1723. Arbuthnot, in Swift’s Lett. (1766), II. 31. I have of late sent several patients in that case to the Spa, to drink there of the Geronster water, which will not carry from the spot.
1733. Coote, Ibid. (1768), IV. 59. A walking-stick, the manufacture of Spa, where she had it made for you.
1780. J. Adams, Wks. (1854), IX. 509. I have received your favor, written after your return from Spa.
1835. Cycl. Pract. Med., IV. 475/2. The Geronstere is the most celebrated fountain at Spa after the Pouhon.
b. In generalized sense.
1610. Beaum. & Fl., Scornf. Lady, III. i. He has yet past cure of Physick, spaw, or any diet, a primitive pox in his bones.
2. A medicinal or mineral spring or well.
1626. E. Deane, Eng. Spaw-Fountain, 9. Doctor Timothy Bright … first gaue the name of the English Spaw vnto this Fountaine about thirty yeares since, or more.
1652. French, Yorksh. Spaw, vii. 66–7. For the better understanding of the nature of this Spaw, I made divers experiments thereof.
1727. W. Mather, Yng. Man’s Comp., 390. The abundance of Medicinal-Waters…, particularly those of the Spaws in Yorkshire.
1778. W. Pryce, Mineralog. Cornub., 8. The migration and egress of Metals and Minerals, is obvious enough in the investigation of Mineral Spaws or Springs.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xx. 234. Sulphureous waters, such as the Lucan and Harrowgate Spas.
1901. Besant, Lady of Lynn, vi. The town found itself the possessor of a Spa—and such a Spa!
3. A town, locality or resort possessing a mineral spring or springs; a watering-place of this kind.
1777. Sheridan, Trip Scarb., I. ii. Even the boors of this northern spa have learned the respect due to a title.
1807. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, xiv. 33. The inland Spa is not a jot behind the Fishing-town in the article of tortures.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp., xl. (1865), V. 17. Baiæ, the most fashionable of the Roman spas, presented another and more lively spectacle.
1879. T. H. S. Escott, England, I. 175. Bath … continues … to hold its own as one of the great inland spas of the kingdom.
4. attrib. and Comb., as spa-diet, -drinker, -fountain, -house. See also SPA-WATER.
1626. E. Deane, Eng. Spaw-Fountain, 26. The most proper season to vndertake this our English *Spaw dyet.
1652. French, Yorksh. Spaw, 100. Of the Dyet to be observed by *Spaw-drinkers.
1626. E. Deane (title), Spadacrene Anglica, (ed. 2) Z z., Who may perhaps with more benefit … pertake of this our English *Spaw-fountaine.
1812. Bigland, in Beaut. Eng. & Wales, XVI. 355. The *spaw-house is situated on the sea-shore.
1808. Pike, Sources Mississ. (1810), II. 137. On the west side of said ridge we found *spa springs.
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 330. The good effects produced by *spa treatment.
1652. French, Yorksh. Spaw, 65. The *Spaw-well near Knares-borow.
1778. Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), s.v. Scarborough, The Spaw-well, as it is improperly called, is a spring a quarter of a mile S. of the town.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxxix. At the spaw-well below the craig at Gilsland.
1652. French, Yorksh. Spaw, ix. 83. Giving them such directions for the drinking the waters as the very *Spaw-women themselves laugh at.
Hence Spa (also spae), v. a. trans. To subject to spa-treatment. b. intr. To frequent or visit a spa or spas.
1832. in Medwin, Angler in Wales (1834), II. 280. Here I am, after being ‘spaed’ for a week at Cheltenham.
1847. W. E. Forster, in Reid, Life (1888), I. 206. I have been spaaing in this distinguished company now for three days. I joined them at Matlock on Friday morning.
