spill

present singular third person spills · participle present spilling · participle past spilled · past spilled · participle past spilt · past spilt

1. transitiveTo drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour.

   I spilled some sticky juice on the kitchen floor.

2. intransitiveTo spread out or fall out, as above.

   Some sticky juice spilled onto the kitchen floor.

   1 more example

   He was so topful of himself, that he let it spill on all the company.

   1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC

3. intransitiveTo overflow out of a designated area.

   The crowd spilled onto Maple Avenue.

4. transitiveTo drop something that was intended to be caught.

   That should have been that, but Hart caught a dose of the Hennessey wobbles and spilled Adlene Guedioura's long-range shot.

   2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport

5. To mar; to damage; to destroy by misuse; to waste.

   Spill not the morning (the quintessence of day) in recreations.

   1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   They [the colours] disfigure the stuff and spill the whole workmanship.

   1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie

6. intransitiveobsoleteTo be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste.

   That thou wilt suffer innocence to spill.

   1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Man of Lawes Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC

   1 more example

   This winter’s weather it waxeth cold, / And frost it freezeth on every hill, / And Boreas blows his blast so bold / That all our cattle are like to spill.

   16th century, Anonymous, "The Old Cloak", st. 1, as reported in The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900)

7. alsofigurativelyintransitiveTo overflow or flow out, over or off something.

   Liverpool Street's 1985-92 remodelling by the British Rail Architects' Department (under project lead Nick Derbyshire) had carefully followed original 1870s detailing, with the concourse designed to allow natural light to spill into the station.

   2025 February 5, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railway Heritage saved in 2024”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 53

8. transitiveTo cause or flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed.

   to revenge his Blood, ſo juſtly ſpilt, / VVhat is it leſs then to partake his guilt?

   1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, page 44

   1 more example

   The cracking sound, he explained, as far as I, a non-plumber, could understand, was the sound of the overworked, undermaintained and weirdly installed heating unit’s core rupturing and spilling water into the basement.

   2007 February 18, Jake Mooney, “A Case of the Shivers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022

9. obsoleteslangtransitiveTo cause to be thrown from a mount, a carriage, etc.

   Then, not thirty feet beyond, a sudden panicky lunge to the side by his horse spilled him from the saddle.

   2007, Eric Flint, David Weber, 1634: The Baltic War

10. To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay.

    And all the others pavement were with yvory spilt

    1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

11. nauticalTo 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. AustraliantransitivegovernmentTo open the leadership of a parliamentary party for re-election.
13. ambitransitiveTo reveal information to an uninformed party.

    He spilled his guts out to his new psychologist.

    1 more example

    ‘You wanted to know where we were going. Follow me. I’m going to spill it.’

    1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 32

14. To come undone.
15. transitiveTo express (something), especially repeatedly or floridly; to be expressed.

    Praise spilled from him every day.

    1 more example

    He spilled insults about the other team.

plural spills

1. Any thing that has been spilled; the resulting mess.
2. A fall or stumble.

   The bruise is from a bad spill he had last week.

3. archaicSynonym of taper, a thin stick, long wick, etc. used to transfer flame.

   Kit froze with the pipe between his teeth, the relit spill pressed to the weed within it.

   2008, Elizabeth Bear, Ink and Steel: A Novel of the Promethean Age

   1 more example

   “In a moment, he has torn the letter into long thin strips, and rolling them up into spills he thrusts them hurriedly in amongst the other spills in the vase on the mantle-piece.”

   1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 182

   Synonyms: taper

4. A slender piece of anything.
   1. A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask'; a spile.
   2. A metallic rod or pin.
   3. A spillikin.

      A tool with which to extract the spills from the pile.

      1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 125

   4. ShropshireA splinter caught in the skin.
5. businessOne of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.
6. sound recordingThe situation where sound is picked up by a microphone from a source other than that which is intended.
7. obsoleteA small sum of money.

   Spill or Sportule for the same from the credulous Laity

   1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. […], London: […] D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe […], →OCLC

8. AustraliangovernmentA declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant, and open for re-election. Short form of leadership spill.