spall

plural spalls · alternative spawl

1. countableA splinter, fragment or chip, especially of stone.

   My father knew Bert Le Feuvre, the foreman of Griffith's yard, and there was a little heap of spawls waiting ready every night in summer after school for me to crack.

   1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 13

2. uncountableespecially concerning ferroconcrete structures or metal objectsA process of weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.

   The failure of this bearing involved spall under high load.

   1 more example

   The inspection of this bridge abutment found extensive spall.

   Synonyms: spalling, spallation

present singular third person spalls · participle present spalling · participle past spalled · past spalled · alternative spawl

1. ambitransitiveTo break into fragments or small pieces.

   Cobbed Ore is the ſpalled which is broke out of the ſolid large ſtones with ſledges

   1778, William Pryce, Mineralogia Cornubiensis: A Treatise on Minerals, Mines, and Mining […]

   1 more example

   Drones will give an idea of the worst bits, but if it's lightly spalled then I don't know if they will necessarily see that.

   2021 May 5, Paul Stephen, “Restoring the glory of Ribblehead”, in RAIL, number 930, page 39

2. especiallyTo undergo weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.

   When the bearing race spalled under high load, it led to the failure of the bearing.

   2 more examples

   Once the concrete had spalled extensively, the bridge could no longer pass an honest inspection.

   I know it’s fun to go to a foreign city, look around at the buildings, and make grand sweeping judgements about the relative strength of civilizations over the next thousand years. But next time you find yourself gaping at a sparkling new high-rise in Shenzhen or Chongqing or Dubai, remind yourself: “This too shall spall.”

   2025 May 6, Noah Smith, “Thoughts on Sinofuturism: What does it mean for China to be "the future"? And what does that future look like?”, in Noahpinion

3. transitiveTo reduce, as irregular blocks of stone, to an approximately level surface by hammering.

plural spalls

1. obsoleterareThe shoulder.

   Their mightie ſtrokes their haberieons diſmayld, / And naked made each others manly ſpalles; […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30, page 265

plural Spalls

1. A surname.