spall Hear it!

spall Definition

spall (spôl)

noun

a flake or chip, esp. of stone

Etymology: ME spalle, prob. < or akin to spalden, to chip, split, akin to Ger spalten, to split: see spool

transitive verb, intransitive verb

  1. to break up or split
  2. to break off in layers parallel to a surface

spall Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • concrete: The effect of possible spalling of concrete should be considered.
  • surface: Fatigue Cracking, flaking or spalling of a surface due to stresses beyond the endurance limit of the material.

Object

  • concrete: In some cases, weighing the amount of spalled concrete with time can be a direct measure.
  • brick: Cutting out damaged or spalled bricks should be undertaken with great caution to prevent damage to surrounding sound bricks.
  • problem: It eats holes into masonry allowing ingress of water and subsequent frost spalling problems.

Modifying Another Word

  • away: View of edge beam showing reinforcement corrosion which has caused concrete to spall away from the soffit.