spill
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spill
- /spɪl/
- [spɪɫ] UK, US
- [spɪo̯]
- [spɪʊ̯]
Rhymes with -ɪl
Where it comes from
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.
verb spills · spilling · spilled · spilt
- To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour. I spilled some sticky juice on the kitchen floor.
- To spread out or fall out, as above. Some sticky juice spilled onto the kitchen floor.
- To overflow out of a designated area. The crowd spilled onto Maple Avenue.
- To drop something that was intended to be caught. 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. They [the colours] disfigure the stuff and spill the whole workmanship.
- To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste. That thou wilt suffer innocence to spill.
- To overflow or flow out, over or off something. 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.
- To cause or flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed. to revenge his Blood, ſo juſtly ſpilt, / VVhat is it leſs then to partake his guilt?
- To cause to be thrown from a mount, a carriage, etc. Then, not thirty feet beyond, a sudden panicky lunge to the side by his horse spilled him from the saddle.
- To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay. And all the others pavement were with yvory spilt
- 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.
- To open the leadership of a parliamentary party for re-election.
- To reveal information to an uninformed party. He spilled his guts out to his new psychologist.
- To come undone.
- To express (something), especially repeatedly or floridly; to be expressed. He spilled insults about the other team.
noun spills
- Any thing that has been spilled; the resulting mess.
- A fall or stumble. The bruise is from a bad spill he had last week.
-
Synonym of taper, a thin stick, long wick, etc. used to transfer flame.
“In a moment, he has torn the letter into long thin strips, and rolling them up into spills he thrusts them hurriedly in amongst the other spills in the vase on the mantle-piece.”
Similar: taper
- A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask'; a spile.
- A metallic rod or pin.
- A spillikin. A tool with which to extract the spills from the pile.
- A splinter caught in the skin.
- One of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.
- The situation where sound is picked up by a microphone from a source other than that which is intended.
- A small sum of money. Spill or Sportule for the same from the credulous Laity
- A declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant, and open for re-election. Short form of leadership spill.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: splatter, spillage, pour forth, shed, tumble, fall, disgorge, run out, spillway, wasteweir, slop, release, outpouring, slick, leaking, leakage
Translations
Every language
verb transitive: to drop something so that it spreads out
| Español | derramar, verter, desparramar, efundir |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 엎지르다 eopjireuda |
| 日本語 | 零れる koboreru, 零す kobosu |
| 中文 | 潑掉 /泼掉 pōdiào, 潑 /泼 pō, 洩漏 /泄漏 xièlòu |
| Português | derramar, entornar |
| Français | déverser, répandre, renverser |
| Deutsch | verschütten, schütten |
| Italiano | rovesciare, versare |
| Ελληνικά | χύνω chýno |
| Română | vărsa |
| Русский | пролива́ть prolivátʹ, проли́ть prolítʹ, разлива́ть razlivátʹ, разли́ть razlítʹ, просыпа́ть prosypátʹ, просы́пать prosýpatʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | đổ |
| العربية | دَلَقَ dalaqa, أَرَاقَ ʔarāqa, أَسْجَمَ ʔasjama |
| עברית | שפך shafákh |
verb intransitive: to spread out or fall out
| Español | extravasarse |
|---|---|
| हिन्दी | छलकना chalaknā |
| Deutsch | sich ergießen |
| Ελληνικά | χύνομαι chýnomai, ξεχειλίζω xecheilízo |
| Русский | пролива́ться prolivátʹsja, проли́ться prolítʹsja, разлива́ться razlivátʹsja, разли́ться razlítʹsja, просыпа́ться prosypátʹsja, просы́паться prosýpatʹsja |
| עברית | נשפך nishpákh |
verb transitive: to drop something that was intended to be caught
| Deutsch | fallen lassen, verpassen, vergeigen, versemmeln |
|---|
verb transitive: to mar; to damage; to destroy by misuse; to waste
| Deutsch | verderben, versauen, beschädigen, ruinieren, vergeuden, verschwenden |
|---|
verb transitive: to cause to flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed
| Deutsch | verschütten, vergießen, verschwenden |
|---|
noun something that has been dropped
| Français | déversement |
|---|---|
| Русский | разли́в razlív |
Talk about this word "spill." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/spill. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. spill. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/spill "spill." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/spill.Cite this
@misc{spill_2026,
title = {spill},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/spill},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
