[spel] 
verb, spelled or spelt, spell⋅ing.| 1. | to name, write, or otherwise give the letters, in order, of (a word, syllable, etc.): Did I spell your name right? |
| 2. | (of letters) to form (a word, syllable, etc.): The letters spelled a rather rude word. |
| 3. | to read letter by letter or with difficulty (often fol. by out): She painfully spelled out the message. |
| 4. | to discern or find, as if by reading or study (often fol. by out). |
| 5. | to signify; amount to: This delay spells disaster for us. |
| 6. | to name, write, or give the letters of words, syllables, etc.: He spells poorly. |
| 7. | to express words by letters, esp. correctly. |
| 8. | spell down, to outspell others in a spelling match. |
| 9. | spell out,
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| spell 1 (spěl) v. spelled or spelt (spělt), spell·ing, spells v. tr.
To form words by means of letters. Phrasal Verb(s): spell downTo defeat in a spelling bee. spell out
[Middle English spellen, to read letter by letter, from Old French espeller, of Germanic origin.] |
spell out
Make plain, clarify, as in We asked her to spell out her objectives. [c. 1940]
Read slowly and laboriously, as in He was only six but he managed to spell out the instructions. [Early 1800s]
Puzzle out, manage to understand with some effort, as in It took years before anyone could spell out the inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone. [Late 1600s] All three usages transfer spell in the sense of "proceed letter by letter."