spill
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English spillen, from Old English spillan, spildan (“to kill, destroy, waste”), from Proto-West Germanic *spilþijan, from Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną (“to spoil, kill, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to sunder, split, rend, tear”).
Cognate with Dutch spillen (“to use needlessly, waste”), French gaspiller ("to waste, squander" < Germanic), Bavarian spillen (“to split, cleave, splinter”), Danish spille (“to spill, waste”), Swedish spilla (“to spill, waste”), Icelandic spilla (“to contaminate, spoil”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
spill (third-person singular simple present spills, present participle spilling, simple past and past participle spilled or spilt)
- (transitive) To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour.
- I spilled some sticky juice on the kitchen floor.
- (intransitive) To spread out or fall out, as above.
- Some sticky juice spilled onto the kitchen floor.
- 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], OCLC 723474632:
- He was so topful of himself, that he let it spill on all the company.
- (transitive) To drop something that was intended to be caught.
- 2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- That should have been that, but Hart caught a dose of the Hennessey wobbles and spilled Adlene Guedioura's long-range shot.
- To mar; to damage; to destroy by misuse; to waste.
- 1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie
- They [the colours] disfigure the stuff and spill the whole workmanship.
- 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], OCLC 1238111360:
- Spill not the morning (the quintessence of day) in recreations.
- 1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste.
- 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Man of Lawes Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868:
- That thou wilt suffer innocence to spill.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- (transitive) To cause to flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed.
- 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […][2], London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, Act IV, scene ii, page 44:
- to revenge his Blood, ſo juſtly ſpilt,
What is it leſs then to partake his guilt?
- (transitive, slang, obsolete) To cause to be thrown from a mount, a carriage, etc.
- 2007, Eric Flint, David Weber, 1634: The Baltic War
- Then, not thirty feet beyond, a sudden panicky lunge to the side by his horse spilled him from the saddle.
- 2007, Eric Flint, David Weber, 1634: The Baltic War
- To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book 4, canto 10:
- And all the others pavement were with yvory spilt
- (nautical) To relieve a sail from the pressure of the wind, so that it can be more easily reefed or furled, or to lessen the strain.
- (transitive, Australian politics) To open the leadership of a parliamentary party for re-election.
- (transitive) To reveal information to an uninformed party.
- 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 32:
- ‘You wanted to know where we were going. Follow me. I’m going to spill it.’
- He spilled his guts out to his new psychologist.
- (of a knot) To come undone.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
|
|
|
|
|
Noun[edit]
spill (plural spills)
- (countable) A mess of something that has been dropped.
- A fall or stumble.
- The bruise is from a bad spill he had last week.
- A small stick or piece of paper used to light a candle, cigarette etc by the transfer of a flame from a fire.
- 2008, Elizabeth Bear, Ink and Steel: A Novel of the Promethean Age:
- Kit froze with the pipe between his teeth, the relit spill pressed to the weed within it.
- 2008, Elizabeth Bear, Ink and Steel: A Novel of the Promethean Age:
- A slender piece of anything.
- A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask; a spile.
- A metallic rod or pin.
- (mining) One of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.
- (sound recording) The situation where sound is picked up by a microphone from a source other than that which is intended.
- (obsolete) A small sum of money.
- 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon juris canonici Anglicani
- Spill or Sportule for the same from the credulous Laity
- 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon juris canonici Anglicani
- (Australian politics) A declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant, and open for re-election. Short form of leadership spill.
Quotations[edit]
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:spill.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
|
Anagrams[edit]
Gothic[edit]
Romanization[edit]
spill
- Romanization of 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌻𐌻
Luxembourgish[edit]
Verb[edit]
spill
Middle English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old English spillan.
Verb[edit]
spill
- Alternative form of spillen
Norwegian Bokmål[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From the verb spille
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
spill n (definite singular spillet, indefinite plural spill, definite plural spilla or spillene)
- a game (or part of a game, e.g., a hand, a round); equipment for a game (e.g., deck of cards, set of dice, board, men, pieces, etc.)
- play, playing
- ballen er ute av spill - the ball is out of play
- gambling; card-playing
- musical instrument (in compounds such as trekkspill (“accordion”))
- stage play
- flickering, play, sparkling (of flames, lights, colors, eyes, a smile)
Derived terms[edit]
See also[edit]
- spel (Nynorsk)
Etymology 2[edit]
Verb[edit]
spill
- imperative of spille
References[edit]
- “spill” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Swedish[edit]
Noun[edit]
spill n
Declension[edit]
Declension of spill | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | spill | spillet | spill | spillen |
Genitive | spills | spillets | spills | spillens |
Verb[edit]
spill
- imperative of spilla.
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪl
- Rhymes:English/ɪl/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Middle English terms with quotations
- English slang
- en:Nautical
- en:Australian politics
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Mining
- English ergative verbs
- en:Liquids
- Gothic non-lemma forms
- Gothic romanizations
- Luxembourgish non-lemma forms
- Luxembourgish verb forms
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs
- Norwegian Bokmål terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Norwegian Bokmål/ɪl
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål neuter nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål non-lemma forms
- Norwegian Bokmål verb forms
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns
- Swedish non-lemma forms
- Swedish verb forms