spaniel

[ span-yuh l ]

/ ˈspæn yəl /

one of any of several breeds of small or medium-sized dogs, usually having a long, silky coat and long, drooping ears.

a submissive, fawning, or cringing person.

Origin of spaniel

1350–1400; Middle English spaynel < Old French espaignol Spanish (dog), derivative of Espaigne Spain

span·iel·like, adjective

Something pulled at his flannel trousers: it was a spaniel puppy, and with it he played till breakfast-time.

A Boswell of Baghdad |E. V. Lucas
A spaniel at the point of death requested a mastiff friend to eat him.

Cobwebs From an Empty Skull |Ambrose Bierce (AKA: Dod Grile)
Number Twelve explained in a weary tone that Fluffles was a Pekinese spaniel.

Adventures of Bindle |Herbert George Jenkins
To this class belong most of the useful dogs, such as the spaniel, the setter, the pointer and the sheepdog.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 |Various

She was indeed like a spaniel dog who sees her master coming.

Fraternity |John Galsworthy

spaniel

/ (ˈspænjəl) /

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

either of two toy breeds of spaniel See King Charles spaniel

an obsequiously devoted person

C14: from Old French espaigneul Spanish (dog), from Old Provençal espanhol, ultimately from Latin Hispāniolus Spanish