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spall

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spall¹

  • /spɔːl/ UK
  • /spɔl/ US
  • /spɑl/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
  • /spɒl/ Canada, dialectal
  • /spoːl/ Australia, New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɔːl

Where it comes from

From Middle English spalle (“a chip”) (first documented in 1440), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from the Middle English verb spald (“to split”) (c.1400), from Middle Low German spalden, cognate with Old High German spaltan (“to split”).

noun spalls · spawl

  1. countable A splinter, fragment or chip, especially of stone. My father knew Bert Le Feuvre, the foreman of Griffith's yard, and there was a little heap of spawls waiting ready every night in summer after school for me to crack.
  2. uncountable A process of weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate. The failure of this bearing involved spall under high load.

    Similar: spalling, spallation

verb spalls · spalling · spalled · spawl

  1. ambitransitive To break into fragments or small pieces. Cobbed Ore is the ſpalled which is broke out of the ſolid large ſtones with ſledges
  2. especially, of ferroconcrete structures or metal objects To undergo weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate. When the bearing race spalled under high load, it led to the failure of the bearing.
  3. transitive To reduce, as irregular blocks of stone, to an approximately level surface by hammering.

spall²

  • /spɔːl/ UK
  • /spɔl/ US
  • /spɑl/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
  • /spɒl/ Canada, dialectal
  • /spoːl/ Australia, New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɔːl

Where it comes from

From Italian spalla. Doublet of spauld and spatula.

noun spalls

  1. obsolete, rare The shoulder. Their mightie ſtrokes their haberieons diſmayld, / And naked made each others manly ſpalles; […]

Spall³

Where it comes from

Unknown.

proper noun Spalls

  1. A surname.

Translations

Every language

noun splinter of stone

Românăașchie
Русскийобло́мок oblómok, оско́лок oskólok

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MLA

"spall." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/spall. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

spall. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/spall

Chicago

"spall." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/spall.

BibTeX
@misc{spall_2026,
  title = {spall},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/spall},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}