spill
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /spɪl/
ipa: [spɪɫ]
note: l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand
ipa: [spɪo̯]
note: l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand
ipa: [spɪʊ̯]
rhymes: -ɪl
Forms: form: spills
form: spilling
form: spilled
form: spilled
form: spilt
form: spilt
Etymology: From Middle English spillen, from Old English spillan, spildan (“to kill, destroy, waste”), from Proto-West Germanic *spilþijan, from Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną (“to spoil, kill, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to sunder, split, rend, tear”).
Cognate with Dutch spillen (“to use needlessly, waste”), French gaspiller ("to waste, squander" < Germanic), Bavarian spillen (“to split, cleave, splinter”), Danish spilde (“to spill, waste”), Swedish spilla (“to spill, waste”), Icelandic spilla (“to contaminate, spoil”). See also spool.
Senses: examples: text: I spilled some sticky juice on the kitchen floor.
glosses: To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour.
examples: text: Some sticky juice spilled onto the kitchen floor.
text: He was so topful of himself, that he let it spill on all the company.
ref: 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To spread out or fall out, as above.
examples: text: The crowd spilled onto Maple Avenue.
glosses: To overflow out of a designated area.
raw_tags: of a crowd or people within a crowd
examples: text: That should have been that, but Hart caught a dose of the Hennessey wobbles and spilled Adlene Guedioura's long-range shot.
ref: 2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: To drop something that was intended to be caught.
examples: text: They [the colours] disfigure the stuff and spill the whole workmanship.
ref: 1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie:
text: Spill not the morning (the quintessence of day) in recreations.
ref: 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To mar; to damage; to destroy by misuse; to waste.
examples: text: That thou wilt suffer innocence to spill.
ref: 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Man of Lawes Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:
text: This winter’s weather it waxeth cold, / And frost it freezeth on every hill, / And Boreas blows his blast so bold / That all our cattle are like to spill.
ref: 16th century, Anonymous, "The Old Cloak", st. 1, as reported in The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900)
glosses: To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste.
examples: text: Liverpool Street's 1985-92 remodelling by the British Rail Architects' Department (under project lead Nick Derbyshire) had carefully followed original 1870s detailing, with the concourse designed to allow natural light to spill into the station.
ref: 2025 February 5, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railway Heritage saved in 2024”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 53:
glosses: To overflow or flow out, over or off something.
examples: text: to revenge his Blood, ſo juſtly ſpilt, / VVhat is it leſs then to partake his guilt?
ref: 1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, page 44:
glosses: To cause or flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed.
examples: text: Then, not thirty feet beyond, a sudden panicky lunge to the side by his horse spilled him from the saddle.
ref: 2007, Eric Flint, David Weber, 1634: The Baltic War:
glosses: To cause to be thrown from a mount, a carriage, etc.
examples: text: And all the others pavement were with yvory spilt
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: 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.
topics: government
politics
glosses: To open the leadership of a parliamentary party for re-election.
examples: text: He spilled his guts out to his new psychologist.
text: ‘You wanted to know where we were going. Follow me. I’m going to spill it.’
ref: 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 32:
glosses: To reveal information to an uninformed party.
glosses: To come undone.
raw_tags: of a knot
examples: text: He spilled insults about the other team.
text: Praise spilled from him every day.
glosses: To express (something), especially repeatedly or floridly; to be expressed.
Derived terms: cry over spilt milk
forspill
spill blood
spiller
spill ink
spill juice
spill one's guts
spill one's guts out
spill one's seed
spill out
spill over
spill the beans
spill the tea
spilt milk
there's no point crying over spilt milk
there's no use crying over spilt milk