Spell

Pronunciation

• enPR: spÄ•l, IPA: /spÉ›l/
• Rhymes: -É›l

From Old English spel, spellian, spelian, from Proto-Germanic *spellą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *spel- ("to tell"). Cognate with dialectal German Spill, spellen and Albanian fjalë ("word").

Full definition of spell

Noun

1. (obsolete) Speech, discourse. 8th-15th c.
2. Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. from 16th c.He cast a spell to cure warts.
3. A magical effect or influence induced by an incantation or formula. from 16th c.under a spell

Related terms

Synonyms

• (words or formula supposed to have magical powers) cantrip, incantation
• (magical effect induced by an incantation or formula) cantrip

Verb

1. (obsolete) To speak, to declaim. 9th-16th c.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ii:O who can tell
  The hidden power of herbes, and might of Magicke spell?
2. (obsolete) To tell; to relate; to teach.
• T. WartonMight I that legend find,
  By fairies spelt in mystic rhymes.
3. To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.
• DrydenSpelled with words of power.
• Sir G. BuckHe was much spelled with Eleanor Talbot.

From Old French espel(l)er ( >

Modern French épeler), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *spel- ("to speak").

Verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To read (something) as though letter by letter; to peruse slowly or with effort. from 14th c.
• 1851, Herman Melville, :"He'll do," said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at his book in a mumbling tone quite audible.
2. (transitive, sometimes with “out”) To write or say the letters that form a word or part of a word. from 16th c.
3. (intransitive) To be able to write or say the letters that form words.I find it difficult to spell because I'm dyslexic.
4. (transitive) Of letters: to compose (a word). from 19th c.The letters “a”, “n” and “d” spell “and”.
• 2008, Helen Fryer, The Esperanto Teacher, In Esperanto each letter has only one sound, and each sound is represented in only one way. The words are pronounced exactly as spelt, every letter being sounded.
5. (transitive, figuratively) To indicate that (some event) will occur. from 19th c.This spells trouble.
6. (transitive, figuratively, with “out”) To clarify; to explain in detail. from 20th c.Please spell it out for me.
• 2003, U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbel, Hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, ISBN 1422334120:When we get elected, for instance, we get one of these, and we are pretty much told what is in it, and it is our responsibility to read it and understand it, and if we do not, the Ethics Committee, we can call them any time of day and ask them to spell it out for us...
7. To constitute; to measure.
• Fullerthe Saxon heptarchy, when seven kings put together did spell but one in effect

Derived terms

• speller
• spelling
• spello

Synonyms

• (to indicate that some event will occur) forebode; mean; signify
• (to work in place of someone else) relieve
• (to compose a word) (informal) comprise

Origin uncertain; perhaps a form of speld.

Noun

1. (dialectal) A splinter, usually of wood; a spelk.

From Middle English spelen, from Old English spelian, akin to spala ("substitute").

Verb

1. (transitive) To work in place of (someone).to spell the helmsman
2. (transitive) To rest (someone or something).They spelled the horses and rested in the shade of some trees near a brook.

Noun

1. A shift (of work); a set of workers responsible for a specific turn of labour. from 16th c.
2. A period of (work or other activity). from 18th c.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.
• 2012, April 22, Sam Sheringham, Liverpool 0-1 West Brom, Despite his ill-fated spell at Anfield, he received a warm reception from the same Liverpool fans he struggled to win over before being sacked midway through last season.
3. An indefinite period of time (usually with some qualifying word). from 18th c.
• 1975, Bob Dylan, Tangled Up in BlueI had a job in the great North WoodsWorkin' as a cook for a spell.But I never did like it all that muchAnd one day the ax just fell.
4. A period of rest; time off. from 19th c.
5. (US) A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc. from 19th c.
6. (cricket) An uninterrupted series of alternate overs bowled by a single bowler. from 20th c.

Derived terms

• dry spell
• set a spell

Anagrams

• pells