spill

(spĭl)

verb spilled spilled or spilt (spĭlt), spill·ing, spills verb, transitive

1. To cause or allow (a substance) to run or fall out of a container.
2. To scatter (objects) from containment: spilled the armload of books on the desk.
3. To shed (blood).
4. Nautical
   a. To relieve the pressure of wind on (a sail).
   b. To cause or allow (wind) to be lost from a sail.
5. To cause to fall: The rider was spilled by his horse.
6. Informal To disclose (something previously unknown); divulge: The witness spilled all the details about the suspect.

verb, intransitive

1. To run or fall out of a container or containment.
2. To come to the ground suddenly and involuntarily.
3. To pour out or spread beyond limits: Fans spilled onto the playing field.

noun

1. The act of spilling.
2. An amount spilled.
3. A fall, as from a horse.
4. A spillway.

Related Forms:

• spillˈer noun

Word History: Crying over spilt milk is pointless because it cannot undo the damage, which in the literal sense of this phrase is trivial; but in the Middle Ages spill was used for actions that seem to demand tears. Old English spillan, the ancestor of Modern English spill, meant such things as “to destroy, mutilate, kill.” The senses “to waste” and “to shed blood” connect these earlier uses with substances falling out of containers, often wastefully. But many people, castles, and fortunes were “spilled” before people started spilling milk, at least judging from the recorded evidence. Spill is first recorded in the sense “to cause a substance to fall out of a container” in a work composed in the 14th century. Since then most of the senses having to do with violent destruction have become obsolete or archaic, but we still speak of spilling blood, as well as milk, water, and gravy.