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spill
1[ spil ]
verb (used with object)
- to cause or allow to run or fall from a container, especially accidentally or wastefully:
to spill a bag of marbles; to spill milk.
- to shed (blood), as in killing or wounding.
- to scatter:
to spill papers all over everything.
- Nautical.
- to let the wind out of (a sail).
- to lose (wind) from a sail.
- to cause to fall from a horse, vehicle, or the like:
His horse spilled him.
- Informal. to divulge, disclose, or tell:
Don't spill the secret.
verb (used without object)
- (of a liquid, loose particles, etc.) to run or escape from a container, especially by accident or in careless handling.
noun
- a spilling, as of liquid.
- a quantity spilled.
- the mark made by something spilled.
- a spillway.
- Also called spill light [spil, lahyt]. superfluous or useless light rays, as from theatrical or photographic lighting units.
- Theater. an area of a stage illuminated by spill light.
- a throw or fall from a horse, vehicle, or the like:
She broke her arm in a spill.
spill
2[ spil ]
noun
- a splinter.
- a slender piece of wood or of twisted paper, for lighting candles, lamps, etc.
- a peg made of metal.
- a small pin for stopping a cask; spile.
- Mining. forepole.
spill
1/ spɪl /
noun
- a splinter of wood or strip of twisted paper with which pipes, fires, etc, are lit
- a small peg or rod made of metal
spill
2/ spɪl /
verb
- whenintr, usually foll by from, out of, etc to fall or cause to fall from or as from a container, esp unintentionally
- to disgorge (contents, occupants, etc) or (of contents, occupants, etc) to be disgorged
the car spilt its passengers onto the road
the crowd spilt out of the theatre
- to shed (blood)
- informal.Alsospill the beans to disclose something confidential
- nautical to let (wind) escape from a sail or (of the wind) to escape from a sail
noun
- informal.a fall or tumble
- short for spillway
- a spilling of liquid, etc, or the amount spilt
- the declaring of several political jobs vacant when one higher up becomes so
the Prime Minister's resignation could mean a Cabinet spill
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Derived Forms
- ˈspiller, noun
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Other Words From
- spill·a·ble adjective noun
- non·spill·a·ble adjective
- un·spilled adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of spill1
Origin of spill2
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Word History and Origins
Origin of spill1
Origin of spill2
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Idioms and Phrases
- spill one's guts. Slang. gut ( def 14 ).
- spill the beans. bean ( def 11 ).
- spill / toss one's cookies. cookie ( def 8 ).
More idioms and phrases containing spill
In addition to the idiom beginning with spill , also see shed (spill) blood ; take a spill .Discover More
Example Sentences
A new paper outlines five steps required for a virus to ‘spill over’ from bats to humans.
In the immediate aftermath of the oil spill, apoplectic Southerners cast their disdain towards the North.
Since the spill, the number of unemployed residents in Louisiana and Alabama has only increased.
Bewildered adolescents, many of them accompanied by equally confused guardians, spill out into the hallway.
Nor is it the way the gunman manages not to spill a drop of the drink in his other hand as he commits all this savagery.
I am of opinion too, that the Indecency of the next Verse, you spill upon me, would admit of an equal Correction.
I knew that in the open I could in some way spill the horn, so that she would be helpless and harmless afterward.
The ashes there are never to be taken out, no matter if they are piled a foot thick, and spill all over the floor.
But first must you win scars and spill the blood of your foes, that all may learn to fear the utterance of your name.
And you would spill blood sooner than your betters should know it—ye ninny-cumpoops!
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Related Words
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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