spill

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spɪl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spillen, inherited from Old English spillan (“to destroy, kill”), a variant of spildan,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną,^[2][3] cognate with Old Saxon spildian (“to destroy, kill”), Old Norse spilla (“to destroy”) and Middle Dutch spillen (“to waste, squander, spill”).^[2][3][4] Hoad calls its origin unknown;^[4] it may be from a root meaning to split (compare German spalten).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To destroy or kill: about 950 in Barnhart, Old English.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense, to kill or destroy, was common until about 1600,^[5] and Trench notes that it once meant to waste, squander or destroy in any way, as in Chaucer.^[6] To waste is from probably before 1200, to shed blood from before 1325,^[2] and to let liquid run out from about 1340, the late Middle English sense that grew from shedding blood.^[2][5] Trench explains the narrowing by liquid poured on the ground seeming so utterly lost.^[6] The noun, a fall or tumble, as from a horse, is from 1845, and a spilling of liquid from 1848.^[3][2] Spillway is from 1889 and spillover from 1940.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 950 – spillan, to destroy.^[2]
• probably before 1200 – to waste.^[2]
• before 1325 – to shed blood.^[2]
• c. 1340 – to spill liquid.^[2]
• 1845 – a fall (noun).^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To cause or allow liquid to run or fall out of a container, especially by accident.
2. To pour or spread out beyond limits: the crowd spilled into the street.
3. To shed blood.
4. (informal) To reveal a secret: spill the beans.

Noun

1. An act of spilling, or the amount spilled.
2. A fall, as from a horse.

Word family

• spiller
• spillable
• unspilled
• nonspill
• spillage
• spillback
• spillover
• spillproof

Related words

• spillway

Usage notes

A different spill, a splinter, or a thin strip of wood or twisted paper for lighting a fire, is from about 1300, of uncertain origin, probably related to spile.^[2][4][7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press