spill definition | Dictionary.com

spill

1 [spil]

verb, spilled or spilt, spill⋅ing, noun

–verb (used with object)

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.

Nautical.

a.	to let the wind out of (a sail).

b.	to lose (wind) from a sail.

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.

–verb (used without object)

7.	(of a liquid, loose particles, etc.) to run or escape from a container, esp. by accident or in careless handling.

–noun

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.

—Idiom

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

spill

2 [spil]

–noun

1.	a splinter.

2.	a slender piece of wood or of twisted paper, for lighting candles, lamps, etc.

3.	a peg made of metal.

4.	a small pin for stopping a cask; spile.

5.	Mining. forepole.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME spille < ?

fore⋅pole

[n. fawr-pohl, fohr-; v. fawr-pohl, fohr-]

noun, verb, -poled, -pol⋅ing. Mining.

–noun

1.	Also called spile, spill. any of a number of boards or timbers driven forward on top of a set to protect miners lengthening a tunnel from falling debris.

–verb (used with object)

2.	to reinforce (the end of an excavated tunnel) with forepoles.

Origin:
1870–75, Americanism; fore- + pole ¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To spill

spill¹ (spĭl)

v. spilled or spilt (spĭlt), spill·ing, spills

v. tr.

To cause or allow (a substance) to run or fall out of a container.
To scatter (objects) from containment: spilled the armload of books on the desk.
To shed (blood).
Nautical
1. To relieve the pressure of wind on (a sail).
2. To cause or allow (wind) to be lost from a sail.
To cause to fall: The rider was spilled by his horse.
Informal To disclose (something previously unknown); divulge: The witness spilled all the details about the suspect.

v. intr.

To run or fall out of a container or containment.
To come to the ground suddenly and involuntarily.
To pour out or spread beyond limits: Fans spilled onto the playing field.

The act of spilling.
An amount spilled.
A fall, as from a horse.
A spillway.

[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.

spill² (spĭl)

A piece of wood or rolled paper used to light a fire.
A small peg or rod, especially one used as a plug; a spile.

[Middle English spille.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Spill

Spill\, n. [[root]170. Cf. Spell a splinter.]

1. A bit of wood split off; a splinter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

2. A slender piece of anything. Specifically: (a) A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask; a spile. (b) A metallic rod or pin. (c) A small roll of paper, or slip of wood, used as a lamplighter, etc. (d) (Mining) One of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.

3. A little sum of money. [Obs.] --Ayliffe.

Spill

Spill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spilt; p. pr. & vb. n. Spilling.] To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay. [Obs.] --Spenser.

Spill

Spill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spilled, or Spilt; p. pr. & vb. n. Spilling.] [OE. spillen,sually, to destroy, AS. spillan, spildan, to destroy; akin to Icel. spilla to destroy, Sw. spilla to spill, Dan. spilde,G. & D. spillen to squander, OHG. spildan.]

1. To destroy; to kill; to put an end to. [Obs.]

And gave him to the queen, all at her will To choose whether she would him save or spill. --Chaucer.

Greater glory think [it] to save than spill. --Spenser.

2. To mar; to injure; to deface; hence, to destroy by misuse; to waste. [Obs.]

They [the colors] disfigure the stuff and spill the whole workmanship. --Puttenham.

Spill not the morning, the quintessence of day, in recreations. --Fuller.

3. To suffer to fall or run out of a vessel; to lose, or suffer to be scattered; -- applied to fluids and to substances whose particles are small and loose; as, to spill water from a pail; to spill quicksilver from a vessel; to spill powder from a paper; to spill sand or flour.

Note: Spill differs from pour in expressing accidental loss, -- a loss or waste contrary to purpose.

4. To cause to flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed, or suffer to be shed, as in battle or in manslaughter; as, a man spills another's blood, or his own blood.

And to revenge his blood so justly spilt. --Dryden.

5. (Naut.) 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.

Spilling line (Naut.), a rope used for spilling, or dislodging, the wind from the belly of a sail. --Totten.

Spill

Spill\, v. i. 1. To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste. [Obs.]

That thou wilt suffer innocents to spill. --Chaucer.

2. To be shed; to run over; to fall out, and be lost or wasted. "He was so topful of himself, that he let it spill on all the company." --I. Watts.

Language Translation for : spill

Spanish: derramar, verter,

German: verschütten,sich ergießen,

Japanese: こぼす

More Translations »

spill

O.E. spillan "destroy, kill," variant of spildan, from P.Gmc. *spelthijanan (cf. O.H.G. spildan "to spill," O.S. spildian, O.N. spilla "to destroy," M.Du. spillen "to waste"), from PIE *spel- "to split, break off" (cf. M.Du. spalden, O.H.G. spaltan "to split;" for further cognates, see spoil). Sense of "let (liquid) fall or run out" developed c.1340 from use of the word in ref. to shedding blood (c.1125). Intrans. sense is from 1655. The noun is first recorded 1845, originally "a throw from a horse." Spill the beans first recorded 1919; to cry for spilt milk (usually with negative) is attested from 1738. Shakespeare used spilth "that which has spilled, act of spilling" (1607); modern spillage is attested from 1934. Spillover is from 1940; spillway is from 1889.

spill
register spilling

spill

In addition to the idiom beginning with spill, also see shed (spill) blood; take a spill.

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