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Spill
Open directlyWebster's 1828 Dictionary · 1828 1 of 4
Part of speech: noun (n.)
1. A bit of wood split off; a splinter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
2. A slender piece of anything. Specifically: --
3. A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask; a spile.
4. A metallic rod or pin.
5. A small roll of paper, or slip of wood, used as a lamplighter, etc.
6. A little sum of money. [Obs.] Ayliffe.
Webster's 1828 Dictionary · 1828 2 of 4
Part of speech: verb (v.)
To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay. [Obs.] Spenser.
Webster's 1828 Dictionary · 1828 3 of 4
Part of speech: verb (v.)
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.
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. 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.
Webster's 1828 Dictionary · 1828 4 of 4
Part of speech: verb (v.)
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.