spill, spille

t. & i. [For spild from A. S. spildan, spill an to destroy, from spild destruction, orig.a cleaving, from the same root as spill (1), s.] A. Transitive: I. Ordinary Language: *1. To ruin, to destroy. "If thou wilt go, quod she, and spill thyself, Take vs." Surrey: Virgile; Æneis, ii. *2. To piece, set, or diversify with spills or small pieces; to inlay. [SPILL (1), s.] "Though all the pillours of the one were guilt, And all the others pavement were with yvory spilt." Spenser: F. Q., IV. x. 5. 3. To throw, as from a horse or carriage. ( Colloq .) 4. To suffer to fall or run out of a ve el; to lose or suffer to be scattered. (Applied only to fluids and substances whose particles are small and loose; as, to spill water out of a jug; to spill quicksilver; to spill powders. It differs from pour in denoting an accidental or undesigned lo or waste.) "Like the fair pearl necklace of the Queen, That burst in dancing, and the pearls were spilt ." Tennyson: Vivien , 302. 5. To suffer or cause to flow out; to shed. (Applied especially with regard to blood. Formerly applied also to tears.) "Enough of blood rests on my head, Too rashly spilled." Scott: Lord of the Isles, iii. 18. II. Naut .: To discharge the wind from, as from the belly of a sail. IMG:content-0036.png:[blocks in formation] *4. To be shed; to be suffered to fall; to be lost or shed. "He was so topfull of himself, that he let it spill on all the company; he spoke well indeed, but he spoke too long."- Watts .