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Added 9 October 2026

spill

/spɪl/ verb

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about spill at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour.
I spilled some sticky juice on the kitchen floor.
To spread out or fall out, as above.
Some sticky juice spilled onto the kitchen floor.
To overflow out of a designated area.
The crowd spilled onto Maple Avenue.

noun

Any thing that has been spilled; the resulting mess.
A fall or stumble.
The bruise is from a bad spill he had last week.
Synonym of taper, a thin stick, long wick, etc. used to transfer flame.

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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