spill

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour.
2. (intransitive) To spread out or fall out, as above.
3. (intransitive) To overflow out of a designated area.
4. (transitive) To drop something that was intended to be caught.
5. To mar; to damage; to destroy by misuse; to waste.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste.
7. (also, figuratively, intransitive) To overflow or flow out, over or off something.
8. (transitive) To cause or flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed.
9. (obsolete, slang, transitive) To cause to be thrown from a mount, a carriage, etc.
10. To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay.
11. 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.
12. (Australian, transitive) To open the leadership of a parliamentary party for re-election.
13. (ambitransitive) To reveal information to an uninformed party.
14. To come undone.
15. (transitive) To express (something), especially repeatedly or floridly; to be expressed.

Noun

1. (countable) A mess of something that has been dropped.
2. A fall or stumble.
3. A small stick or piece of paper used to light a candle, cigarette etc by the transfer of a flame from a fire.
4. A slender piece of anything.
5. A slender piece of anything.
6. A slender piece of anything.
7. (Shropshire) A slender piece of anything.
8. One of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.
9. The situation where sound is picked up by a microphone from a source other than that which is intended.
10. (obsolete) A small sum of money.
11. (Australian) A declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant, and open for re-election. Short form of leadership spill.

Synonyms

pour

pour out

overflow

shed

scatter

sprinkle

drop

splash

fall

spillage

slop

empty

tumble

upset

drip

drain

ooze

let fall

flow

turn over

splatter

let out

spillway

spill out

dash

💨

run out

dump

spread

water

🚰

waste

effuse

wasteweir

leak

escape

turn

tip out

capsize

stream

spray

talk

🗣️

spill over

break

shedding

throw

release

seep

dribble

overthrow

overturn

sew

Translations

verser

répandre

versare

derramar

renverser

morsen

verter

χύνω

verter

vessar

derrame

rovesciare

derramamento

schütten

χύνομαι

Pronounced as (IPA)

/spɪl/

Etymology

Cognate with Dutch: spillen

Cognate with French: gaspiller

Cognate with Bavarian: spillen

Cognate with Danish: spilde

Cognate with Swedish: spilla

Cognate with Icelandic: spilla

In summary

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.

Sentences

Class was dismissed due to a freak incident caused by a chemical spill .