Spill (?), n. [&root;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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
Spill (?), 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, n. An instance of spilling.
Oil spill, an accidental release of oil, usually into the ocean, due to damage to an oil tanker or uncontrolled release from an underwater well. -->
© Webster 1913.
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 1913.