Category:Spill

Spill, n. Etym: [sq. root170. 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.]

Defn: 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.] Etym: [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.)

Defn: 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.