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Entry 15 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Spill

/(spĭl)/ · IPA /[spɪɫ]/
01 n. A bit of wood split off; a splinter.
  1. 1.
    A bit of wood split off; a splinter.[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
  2. 2.
    A slender piece of anything.
  3. 3.
    A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask; a spile.
  4. 4.
    A metallic rod or pin.
  5. 5.
    A small roll of paper, or slip of wood, used as a lamplighter, etc.
  6. 6.
    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.(Mining)
  7. 7.
    A little sum of money.[Obs.]
Syn. forepole; spile{4}.
02 v. t. To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay.
imp. & p. p. Spilt; p. pr. & vb. n. Spilling
  1. 1.
    To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay.[Obs.]
03 v. t. To destroy; to kill; to put an end to.
imp. & p. p. Spilled; p. pr. & vb. n. Spilling
  1. 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. 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. 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.
  4. 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. 5.
    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.(Naut.)
Phrases & compounds
Spilling line — a rope used for spilling, or dislodging, the wind from the belly of a sail.
04 v. i. To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste.
  1. 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. 2.
    To be shed; to run over; to fall out, and be lost or wasted.