Definition of "expediate" verb third-person singular simple present expediates , present participle expediating , simple past and past participle expediated
(rare, historical, transitive) To injure (a dog ) by cutting away the pads of the forefeet , thereby preventing it from hunting . quotations
Quotations EXPEDIATE —is a term tranſmitted from one book to another by former writers , but is at preſent little uſed in either theory or practice . It implies the cutting out the centrical ball of the foot of a dog , or ſuch claws as ſhall totally prevent his purſuit of game . In earlier times , when the forest laws were more rigidly enforced , the owner of any dog not expediated , living within the diſtric t , was liable to a fine for non -obedience .
1803, William Taplin, The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository of General Information Upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field, Vernor and Hood, page 236
Among other liberties , they were permitted to assart their lands in Woodford and many other places , and enclose them with a ditch and low hedge , that they might take of their woods at pleasure ; to have the forfeiture of their own men ; to hunt the fox , hare , and cat , in the forest ; that their dogs should not be expediated †. […] † Expediating dogs , according to the forest laws , signifies to cut out the ball of dogs ' fore -feet ; the mastiff is to have only the three claws of the fore -foot , on the right side , cut off next the skin , for the preservation of the king 's game . Every one that keeps any great dog , not expediated , forfeits 3s . 4d . to the king .
1814, Elizabeth Ogborne, The History of Essex: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, page 73
The statute , which prohibited all but a few privileged individuals from keeping Greyhounds or Spaniels , provided that farmers and substantial freeholders dwelling within the forests might keep Mastiffs for the defence of their houses within the same , provided such Mastiffs be expediated according to the laws of the forest . This “expediating ,” “hambling ,” or “lawing ,” as it was indifferently termed , was intended to maim the dog as to reduce to a minimum the chances of his chasing and seizing the deer , and the law enforced its being done after the following manner : “Three claws of the fore foot shall be cut off by the skin , by setting one of his fore feet upon a piece of wood 8 inches thick and 1 foot square , and with a mallet , setting a chisel of 2 inches broad upon the three claws of his fore feet , and at one blow cutting them clean off .”
1903, William D. Drury, British Dogs, Their Points, Selection, and Show Preparation, C. Scribner's sons, page 16
adjective comparative more expediate , superlative most expediate