spilling line (spiling lin)

Naut., a rope occasionally fitted to a square sail in stormy weather, so as to spill the sail, in order that it may be reefed or furled more easily. Reef-tackles were rove to the courses, and spilling -lines to the topsails. R. H. Dana , Jr. , Before the Mast, p. 347. spill-stream (spil's trēm), n . In India, a stream formed by the overflow of water from a river; a bayou. See spill - channel . The Bhagirathi, although for centuries a mere spill stream from the parent Ganges, is still called the Ganges by the villagers along its course. Nineteenth Century, XXIII. 43.