Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Spill

Spill (spĭl), n. [√170. 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, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spilt; p. pr. & vb. n. Spilling.] To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay. [Obs.] Spenser.

Spill (spĭl), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spilled, or Spilt; p. pr. & vb. n. Spilling.] [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.

☞ 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.) 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, 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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.