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2 dictionary results for: Spilling
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
spill1 
[spil] Pronunciation Key verb, spilled or spilt, spill·ing, noun
—Related forms
[spil] Pronunciation Key verb, spilled or spilt, spill·ing, noun –verb (used with object)
–verb (used without object)
–noun
—Idiom
| 1. | to cause or allow to run or fall from a container, esp. accidentally or wastefully: to spill a bag of marbles; to spill milk. |
| 2. | to shed (blood), as in killing or wounding. |
| 3. | to scatter: to spill papers all over everything. |
| 4. | Nautical.
|
| 5. | to cause to fall from a horse, vehicle, or the like: His horse spilled him. |
| 6. | Informal. to divulge, disclose, or tell: Don't spill the secret. |
| 7. | (of a liquid, loose particles, etc.) to run or escape from a container, esp. by accident or in careless handling. |
| 8. | a spilling, as of liquid. |
| 9. | a quantity spilled. |
| 10. | the mark made by something spilled. |
| 11. | a spillway. |
| 12. | Also called spill light. superfluous or useless light rays, as from theatrical or photographic lighting units. |
| 13. | Theater. an area of a stage illuminated by spill light. |
| 14. | a throw or fall from a horse, vehicle, or the like: She broke her arm in a spill. |
| 15. | spill the beans. bean (def. 11). |
[Origin: bef. 950; 1920–25 for def. 6; ME spillen to kill, destroy, shed (blood), OE spillan to kill; c. MHG, MD spillen; akin to spoil]
] —Related forms
spill·a·ble, adjective, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| spill 1
(spĭl) Pronunciation Key
v. spilled or spilt (spĭlt), spill·ing, spills v. tr.
v. intr.
n.
[Middle English spillen, to shed blood, to spill, from Old English spillan, to kill.] spill'er n. Word History: Crying over spilt milk is pointless because it cannot undo the damage, which in the literal sense of this phrase is trivial; but in the Middle Ages spill was used for actions that seem to demand tears. Old English spillan, the ancestor of Modern English spill, meant such things as "to destroy, mutilate, kill." The senses "to waste" and "to shed blood" connect these earlier uses with substances falling out of containers, often wastefully. But many people, castles, and fortunes were "spilled" before people started spilling milk, at least judging from the recorded evidence. Spill is first recorded in the sense "to cause a substance to fall out of a container" in a work composed in the 14th century. Since then most of the senses having to do with violent destruction have become obsolete or archaic, but we still speak of spilling blood, as well as milk, water, and gravy. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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