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
To relieve the pressure of wind on (a sail).
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.
n.
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.
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.
Spell\, n. [OE. speld, AS. speld a spill to light a candle with; akin to D. speld a pin, OD. spelle, G. spalten to split, OHG. spaltan, MHG. spelte a splinter, Icel. spjald a square tablet, Goth. spilda a writing tablet. Cf. Spillsplinter, roll of paper, Spell to tell the letters of.] A spelk, or splinter. [Obs.] --Holland.
Spil"i*kin\, n. [OD. spelleken a small pin. See Spill a splinter.] One of a number of small pieces or pegs of wood, ivory, bone, or other material, for playing a game, or for counting the score in a game, as in cribbage. In the plural (spilikins), a game played with such pieces; pushpin. [Written also spillikin, spilliken.]
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\, 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.
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