spell

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See also: Spell

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: spĕl, IPA(key): /spɛl/
  • Audio (US)
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  • Audio (AU)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English spell, spel, from Old English spell (“news, story”), from Proto-Germanic *spellą (“speech, account, tale”), from Proto-Indo-European *spel- (“to tell”). Cognate with dialectal German Spill, Icelandic spjall (“discussion, talk”), spjalla (“to discuss, to talk”), guðspjall (“gospel”) and Albanian fjalë (“word”).

Noun[edit]

spell (plural spells)

  1. Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: cantrip, incantation
    He cast a spell to cure warts.
  2. A magical effect or influence induced by an incantation or formula. [from 16th c.]
    Synonym: cantrip
    under a spell
  3. (obsolete) Speech, discourse. [8th-15th c.]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled)

  1. To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.
    • 1647, George Buck, The History and Life and Reigne of Richard the Third, London, Book 4, p. 116,[1]
      […] although the Kings Jealousie was thus particular to her, his Affection was as general to others […] Above all, for a time he was much speld with Elianor Talbot […]
    • 1697, John Dryden (translator), Georgics, Book 3 in The Works of Virgil, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 109, lines 444-446,[2]
      This, gather’d in the Planetary Hour,
      With noxious Weeds, and spell’d with Words of pow’r
      Dire Stepdames in the Magick Bowl infuse;
    • 1817, John Keats, “To a Friend who sent me some Roses” in Poems, London: C. & J. Ollier, p. 83,[3]
      But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me
      My sense with their deliciousness was spell’d:

Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English spellen, from Anglo-Norman espeler, espeleir, Old French espeller, espeler (compare Modern French épeler), from Frankish *spelōn, merged with native Old English spellian (“to tell, speak”), both eventually from Proto-Germanic *spellōną (“to speak”). Related with etymology 1. The sense “indicate a future event” probably in part a backformation from forespell (literally “to tell in advance”).

Verb[edit]

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled or (mostly UK) spelt)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To read (something) as though letter by letter; to peruse slowly or with effort. [from 14th c.]
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick:
      "He'll do," said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at his book in a mumbling tone quite audible.
  2. (transitive, sometimes with “out”) To write or say the letters that form a word or part of a word. [from 16th c.]
  3. (intransitive) To be able to write or say the letters that form words.
    I find it difficult to spell because I'm dyslexic.
  4. (transitive) Of letters: to compose (a word). [from 19th c.]
    The letters “a”, “n” and “d” spell “and”.
    • 2008, Helen Fryer, The Esperanto Teacher‎[4], BiblioBazaar, LLC, →ISBN, page 13:
      In Esperanto each letter has only one sound, and each sound is represented in only one way. The words are pronounced exactly as spelt, every letter being sounded.
    • 2006 March 13, Richard Clark, “The Dream Teens”, in Totally Spies!: Undercover, season 4, episode 1, Teletoon, Marathon Media, spoken by Tim Scam (Matt Charles as Terrence Lewis and Michael Gough):
      Welcome to the League Aiming to Menace and Overthrow Spies!
      You realize that spells “LAMOS”?
  5. (transitive, figurative, with “out”) To clarify; to explain in detail. [from 20th c.]
    Please spell it out for me.
    • 2003, U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbel, Hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, →ISBN:
      When we get elected, for instance, we get one of these, and we are pretty much told what is in it, and it is our responsibility to read it and understand it, and if we do not, the Ethics Committee, we can call them any time of day and ask them to spell it out for us […]
  6. (transitive) To indicate that (some event) will occur. [from 19th c.]
    This spells trouble.
  7. To constitute; to measure.
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, Church-History of Britain
      the Saxon heptarchy, when seven kings put together did spell but one in effect
  8. (obsolete) To speak, to declaim. [9th-16th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ii:
      O who can tell / The hidden power of herbes, and might of Magicke spell?
  9. (obsolete) To tell; to relate; to teach.
    • 1770, Thomas Warton, “Ode on the Approach of Summer” in A Collection of Poems in Four Volumes, London: G. Pearch, Volume 1, p. 278,[5]
      As thro’ the caverns dim I wind,
      Might I that legend find,
      By fairies spelt in mystic rhymes,
Derived terms[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle English spelen, from Old English spelian (“to represent, take or stand in the place of another, act as a representative of another”), akin to spala (“representative, substitute”).

Verb[edit]

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled or spelt)

  1. (transitive) To work in place of (someone).
    to spell the helmsman
  2. (transitive) To rest (someone or something), to give someone or something a rest or break.
    They spelled the horses and rested in the shade of some trees near a brook.
  3. (intransitive, colloquial) To rest from work for a time.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

spell (plural spells)

  1. A shift (of work); (rare) a set of workers responsible for a specific turn of labour. [from 16th c.]
  2. (informal) A definite period (of work or other activity). [from 18th c.]
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.
    • 1975, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Tangled Up in Blue”:
      I had a job in the great North Woods / Workin' as a cook for a spell / But I never did like it all that much / And one day the ax just fell
    • 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:
      Despite his ill-fated spell at Anfield, he received a warm reception from the same Liverpool fans he struggled to win over before being sacked midway through last season.
  3. (colloquial) An indefinite period of time (usually with a qualifier); by extension, a relatively short distance. [from 18th c.]
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 24, in Dracula‎[6], HTML edition:
      Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her trouble for whole spells. [...] When he had spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her.
    • 2020 June 17, John Crosse, “Thornaby's traction transition”, in Rail, page 65:
      [...] Class 37s became synonymous with the depot, and over the years more than a third of the class had a spell allocated to the shed.
  4. A period of rest; time off. [from 19th c.]
  5. (colloquial, US) A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc. [from 19th c.]
  6. (cricket) An uninterrupted series of alternate overs bowled by a single bowler. [from 20th c.]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Quotations[edit]

Etymology 4[edit]

Origin uncertain; perhaps a form of speld.

Noun[edit]

spell (plural spells)

  1. (dialectal) A splinter, usually of wood; a spelk.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)
  2. The wooden bat in the game of trap ball, or knurr and spell.

Anagrams[edit]

Faroese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

spell n (genitive singular spels, plural spell)

  1. pity, shame

Declension[edit]

n9 Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative spell spellið spell spellini
Accusative spell spellið spell spellini
Dative spelli spellinum spellum spellunum
Genitive spels spelsins spella spellanna

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From the verb spelle

Noun[edit]

spell n (definite singular spellet, indefinite plural spell, definite plural spella or spellene)

  1. Alternative form of spill

See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

spell

  1. imperative of spelle

Old English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *spellą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *spel- (“to tell”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

spell n

  1. news
  2. story

Declension[edit]

Declension of spell (strong-a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative spell spell
accusative spell spell
genitive spelles spella
dative spelle spellum

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

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