Spavined - plus, is it 'free rein' or 'free reign'?

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY [February 5, 2018](#none) spavined [Audio pronunciation]( adjective | SPAV-ind Definition 1 : affected with swelling 2 : old and decrepit : [over-the-hill]( Scroll down for more about spavined TRENDING NOW: [redaction]( [spurious]( [malfeasance]( [pissant]( [SEE ALL [>]]( PEOPLE ARE READING # [The Strange Route from 'Cadet' to 'Cad']( # [12 Words to Know for the Winter Olympics]( # ['Outsize' vs. 'Outsized']( # [6 Words for Unbelievable Stories]( WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [Words of Snow and Ice Quiz]( A selection of words from the chillier parts of the lexicon. [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Did You Know? "His horse [is] … troubled with the lampas, infected with the fashions, full of windgalls, sped with spavins...." Petruchio's poor, decrepit horse in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is beset by just about every known equine malady, including a kind of swelling in the mouth ([lampas](), skin lesions (fashions), tumors on his [fetlocks]( ([windgalls](), and bony enlargements on his [hocks]( ([spavins](). The spavins alone can be enough to render a horse lame and useless. In the 17th century, "spavined" horses brought to mind other things that are obsolete, out-of-date, or long past their prime, and we began using the adjective figuratively. Spavined still serves a purpose, despite its age. It originated in Middle English as spaveyned and can be traced to the Middle French word for spavin, which was espavain. Examples of SPAVINED The team is sadly spavined, and the new coaching staff will have to look to rebuild over the next couple of seasons. "Large and medium-sized canvases in varying stages of completion covered most of the wall space in the studio, a long, windowless room that was once an auto-body shop, and the floor was a palimpsest of rags, used paper palettes, brushes, spavined art books, … and other debris." — Calvin Tomkins and Dodie Kazanjian, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2017 Name That Synonym Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of spavined meaning "swollen": MCETNTSEU. [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( USAGE NOTES 'Free Rein' or 'Free Reign'? The phrase does not make you king or queen for the day. [FIND OUT [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( SHARE: [Facebook][Facebook]( [Twitter][Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 [www.merriam-webster.com](