SPANIEL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spaniel mean? 

• SPANIEL (noun)
  The noun SPANIEL has 1 sense:

1. any of several breeds of small to medium-sized gun dogs with a long silky coat and long frilled ears

  Familiarity information: SPANIEL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPANIEL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several breeds of small to medium-sized gun dogs with a long silky coat and long frilled ears

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("spaniel" is a kind of...):

gun dog; sporting dog (a dog trained to work with sportsmen when they hunt with guns)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spaniel"):

Brittany spaniel (tall active short-tailed French breed of bird dog having a usually smooth orange- or liver-and-white coat)

clumber; clumber spaniel (a thickset spaniel with longish silky hair)

field spaniel (large usually black hunting and retrieving spaniel with a dense flat or slightly wavy coat; cross between cocker and Sussex spaniel)

springer; springer spaniel (a large spaniel with wavy silky coat usually black or liver and white)

cocker; cocker spaniel; English cocker spaniel (a small breed with wavy silky hair; originally developed in England)

Sussex spaniel (an English breed with short legs and a golden liver-colored coat)

water spaniel (any dog of two large curly-coated breeds used for hunting waterfowl)

 Context examples 

The Field Spaniel is a moderately-sized spaniel, slightly heavier and longer in body than the Cocker.

(Field Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

The Japanese Chin is a small spaniel with a short, broad face, and a soft, feathered coat.

(Japanese Chin, NCI Thesaurus)

The Irish Water Spaniel is the largest of the spaniels with a solid brown (leaning to purple), crisp-textured, and curly coat.

(Irish Water Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a small spaniel with dark, round eyes that are large but not prominent.

(Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

The English Toy Spaniel is a small, square spaniel with a deep, pug nose.

(English Toy Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

Sixty or seventy of them, large and small, smooth and shaggy—deer-hound, boar-hound, blood-hound, wolf-hound, mastiff, alaun, talbot, lurcher, terrier, spaniel—snapping, yelling and whining, with score of lolling tongues and waving tails, came surging down the narrow lane which leads from the Twynham kennels to the bank of Avon.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

While she was absent, and out of hearing, a small white spaniel that belonged to one of the chief gardeners, having got by accident into the garden, happened to range near the place where I lay: the dog, following the scent, came directly up, and taking me in his mouth, ran straight to his master wagging his tail, and set me gently on the ground.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)