spill

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a sudden drop from an upright position

   I had a nasty spill on the ice.

2. 2
   noun

   liquid that is spilled

   clean up the spills

3. 3
   verb

   cause or allow (a solid substance) to flow or run out or over

   spill the beans all over the table

4. 4
   verb

   cause or allow (a liquid substance) to run or flow from a container

   spill the milk

5. 5
   verb

   flow, run or fall out and become lost

   The milk spilled across the floor

6. 6
   verb

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

   I spilled some sticky juice on the kitchen floor.

7. 7
   verb

   To spread out or fall out, as above.

   Some sticky juice spilled onto the kitchen floor.

8. 8
   verb

   To overflow out of a designated area.

   The crowd spilled onto Maple Avenue.

Etymology

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.