Now only arch. Forms: α. 5 spayer, 5 (7) spayad (7 -ade), 9 spayard, -art. β. 6–7 spayde, 7 spaide, 7–8 spaid, 8 spayd; 7, 9 spade. γ. 6 spaie, 9– spay. [Of obscure origin: only the earliest quots. are of any value for the genuine form of the word. See also SPIRE sb.] A male deer in its third year.
α. a. 1425. in Rel. Ant., I. 151. The fyrst yere he is a calfe, the secunde yere a broket, the .iij. yere a spayer.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hunting, e j b. The secunde yere a Broket…. The therde yere a Spayad.
1598. Manwood, Lawes Forest, iv. (1615), 42. The third yeere, yow shall call him a Spayad.
1632. Guillim’s Heraldry, III. xiv. (ed. 2), 175. The … Third … years, you shall call them … Spayade.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 132/1. An Hart, is called 1 yeare a Hind,… 3 a Spayade or Spayde.
1859. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., V. 517. In this condition he is called a ‘spayard.’
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., 698. Spayart.… A male deer of three years old.
β. 1576. Turberv., Venerie, 237. An Hart is called the firste yeare a Calfe, the seconde a Brocket, the thirde a Spayde.
1602. 2nd Pt. Return Parnass., II. v. 888. Your Hart is the first yeare a Calfe,… the third yeare a Spade.
1627. J. Taylor (Water P.), Armado, D 1 b. So a Hart is the first yeare a Calfe,… the third a Spaide.
1678. Phillips, Spaid, or Spayad [in later dicts. Spayed, Spayd], a term used by Hunters, a red male Deer of three years old.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Spade,… a deer three years old.
γ. 1577. Harrison, England, III. iv. 226/1. I find that the yoong male is called in the first yeere a calfe, in the second a broket, the third a spaie.
1906. Conan Doyle, Sir Nigel, xiii. 163. Great his anxiety lest he confuse a spay with a brocket, or either with a hind.
