Spill
Pronunciation
- IPA: /spɪl/
- Rhymes: -ɪl
Origin
Old English spillan.
Full definition of spill
Verb
- (transitive) To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to pour.I spilled some sticky juice on the kitchen floor.
- (intransitive) To spread out or fall out, as above.Some sticky juice spilled onto the kitchen floor.
- Isaac WattsHe was so topful of himself, that he let it spill on all the company.
- (transitive) To drop something that was intended to be caught.
- 2011, October 29, Neil Johnston, Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn, That should have been that, but Hart caught a dose of the Hennessey wobbles and spilled Adlene Guedioura's long-range shot.
- To mar; to damage; to destroy by misuse; to waste.
- PuttenhamThey colours disfigure the stuff and spill the whole workmanship.
- FullerSpill not the morning, the quintessence of day, in recreations.
- (obsolete) To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste.
- ChaucerThat thou wilt suffer innocents to spill.
- To cause to flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed.
- Drydento revenge his blood so justly spilt
- To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay.
- (nautical) 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.
Noun
spill
(plural spills)- (countable) A mess of something that has been dropped.
- A fall or stumble.The bruise is from a bad spill he had last week.
- A small stick or piece of paper used to light a candle, cigarette etc by the transfer of a flame from a fire.
- 2008, Elizabeth Bear, Ink and Steel: A Novel of the Promethean Age:Kit froze with the pipe between his teeth, the relit spill pressed to the weed within it.
- A slender piece of anything.
- A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask; a spile.
- A metallic rod or pin.
- (mining) One of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.
- (obsolete) A small sum of money.
- (Australia, politics) A declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant, and open for re-election. Short form of leadership spill