Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To cause or allow (a substance) to run or fall out of a container.
- intransitive verb To scatter (objects) from containment.
- intransitive verb To shed (blood).
- intransitive verb To relieve the pressure of wind on (a sail).
- intransitive verb To cause or allow (wind) to be lost from a sail.
- intransitive verb To cause to fall.
- intransitive verb Informal To disclose (something previously unknown); divulge.
- intransitive verb To run or fall out of a container or containment.
- intransitive verb To come to the ground suddenly and involuntarily.
- intransitive verb To pour out or spread beyond limits.
- noun The act of spilling.
- noun An amount spilled.
- noun A fall, as from a horse.
- noun A spillway.
- noun A piece of wood or rolled paper used to light a fire.
- noun A small peg or rod, especially one used as a plug; a spile.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A throw or fall, as from a saddle or a vehicle.
- noun A downpour; a flood.
- To inlay, diversify, or piece out with spills, splinters, or chips; cover with small patches resembling spills. In the quotation it denotes inlaying with small pieces of ivory.
- noun A splinter; a chip.
- noun A little bar or pin; a peg.
- noun A slip or strip of wood or paper meant for use as a lamplighter.
- noun A small peg or pin for stopping a cask; a spile: as, a vent-hole stopped with a spill.
- noun The spindle of a spinning-wheel.
- noun A trifling sum of money; a small fee.
- To destroy; kill; slay.
- To injure; mar; spoil; ruin.
- To waste; squander; spend.
- To suffer or cause to flow out or become lost; shed: used especially of blood, as in wilful killing.
- To suffer to fall or run out accidentally and wastefully, and not as by pouring: said of fluids or of substances in fine grains or powder, such as flour or sand: as, to
spill wine; to spill salt. - To let out; let leak out; divulge: said of matters concealed.
- Nautical, to discharge the wind from, as from the belly of a sail, in order to furl or reef it.
- To throw, as from the saddle or a vehicle; overthrow.
- Synonyms Splash, etc. See
slop . - To kill; slay; destroy; spread ruin.
- To come to ruin or destruction; perish; die.
- To be wasteful or prodigal.
- To run out and become shed or wasted.
- noun plural The thin layers or filaments of cinder in wrought-iron bars of poor quality due to imperfect working of the metal in squeezer, hammer, or roll treatment.
- To brace or stay a drift or adit with piles.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Obs. or Prov. Eng. A bit of wood split off; a splinter.
- noun A slender piece of anything.
- noun A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask; a spile.
- noun A metallic rod or pin.
- noun A small roll of paper, or slip of wood, used as a lamplighter, etc.
- noun (Mining) One of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.
- noun obsolete A little sum of money.
- transitive verb obsolete To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay.
- transitive verb obsolete To destroy; to kill; to put an end to.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"I think the spill is a game changer," said William Reilly, co-chairman of the president's oil spill commission tasked with examining policy for offshore drilling in light of what went wrong with the Macondo well.
Will the oil spill make a drop of difference regarding our attitudes? Steven Mufson 2010
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"I think the spill is a game changer," said William Reilly, co-chairman of the president's oil spill commission tasked with examining policy for offshore drilling in light of what went wrong with the Macondo well.
Will the oil spill make a drop of difference regarding our attitudes? Steven Mufson 2010
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Hurricanes are an act of nature, but this spill is an act of men.
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Some of Obama's top officials said Sunday that the spill is a potential catastrophe and defended the administration's response so far against complaints it has reacted too slowly.
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As Mother Jones environmental reporter Kate Sheppard recently noted: “The base fine for a spill is $1,100 a barrel, but it can go as high as $4,300 a barrel if a federal court determines that the spill was the result of gross negligence by the responsible party.”
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"I think the spill is a game changer," said William Reilly, co-chairman of the president's oil spill commission tasked with examining policy for offshore drilling in light of what went wrong with the Macondo well.
Will the oil spill make a drop of difference regarding our attitudes? Steven Mufson 2010
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A "spill" is when you have something, and then lose it - like water from a bucket, or oil from the Exxon Valdez.
Oil spill could sap appetite for Obama's offshore drilling plans 2010
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The incoming leader, who takes over Friday as CEO of a company struggling with the aftermath of a record oil spill, is ousting entrenched leaders, restructuring the organization and reassessing how employees earn their pay.
Rating BP's management shakeup Jena McGregor 2010
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The oil spill is a situation where you don't see what worries you the most.
Reflections from the Gulf of Mexico Leslie Tamura 2010
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Already, this oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.
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