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Spill   /spɪl/   Listen
verb
Spill  v. t.  (past & past part. spilt; pres. part. spilling)  To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay. (Obs.)


Spill  v. t.  (past & past part. spilt or spilled; pres. part. spilling)  
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." "Greater glory think (it) to save than spill."
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." "Spill not the morning, the quintessence of day, in recreations."
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."
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.


Spill  v. i.  (past & past part. spilt or spilled; pres. part. spilling)  
1.
To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste. (Obs.) "That thou wilt suffer innocents to spill."
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."


noun
Spill  n.  
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 on top of a set of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.
Synonyms: forepole; spile (4).
3.
A little sum of money. (Obs.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Spill" Quotes from Famous Books



... showed his disappointment: "That's what I get for thinking I had a real surprise up my sleeve. You sit back with that innocent kid face of yours and let me spill all the dope—and then tell me perfectly matter-of-factly that you knew it all the time. How'd you ever get ...
— Midnight • Octavus Roy Cohen
... the miraculous properties of the Saint Greal, Arthur and Tristram fight with dragons and giants. The loves of Tristram and Isoud arise from the drinking of an amorous potion. The chastity of knight and damsel is determined by the magic horn, whose liquor the innocent drink, but the guilty spill; and by the enchanted garland, which blooms on the brow of the chaste, but withers on that of the faithless. Inventions such as these were regarded as facts, or at least as possible occurrences, by the readers of ...
— A History of English Prose Fiction • Bayard Tuckerman
... Man would say after the Gusher had passed on, "but my Stars! He can ladle out that Soothing Syrup and never spill a Drop." ...
— People You Know • George Ade
... sleuth-hounds, used to be kept on the Borders, and kings and troopers, perhaps equally marauders, have, in olden times, found it difficult to evade them. The noble Bruce had several narrow escapes from them, and the only sure way to destroy their scent was to spill blood upon the track. In all the common routine of life they are good-natured and intelligent, and make excellent watch-dogs. A story is related of a nobleman, who, to make trial whether a young hound was well instructed, desired one of his servants ...
— Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals • R. Lee
... wise. Thou art wise, when thou art poor without desire of this world, and despisest thyself for love of Christ: and expendest all thy wit and all thy might in His service. For some who seem wise are most fools, for all their wisdom they spill in covetousness and care about the world. If thou sawest a man have precious stones wherewith he might buy a kingdom, if he gave them for an apple, as a child will do, rightly mightest thou say that he was not wise but a great fool. Just so, if we will, ...
— The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises • Richard Rolle of Hampole


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