Part 648

Spile hole, a small air hole in a cask; a vent.

Spile (?), v. t. To supply with a spile or a spigot; to make a small vent in, as a cask.

Spil"i*kin (?), n. [OD. spelleken a small pin. See Spill a splinter.] One of a number of small pieces or pegs of wood, ivory, bone, or other material, for playing a game, or for counting the score in a game, as in cribbage. In the plural (spilikins), a game played with such pieces; pushpin. [Written also spillikin, spilliken.]

Spill (?), n. [√170. Cf. Spell a splinter.] 1. A bit of wood split off; a splinter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

2. A slender piece of anything. Specifically: --

(a) A peg or pin for plugging a hole, as in a cask; a spile.

(b) A metallic rod or pin.

(c) A small roll of paper, or slip of wood, used as a lamplighter, etc.

(d) (Mining) One of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.

3. A little sum of money. [Obs.] Ayliffe.

Spill, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spilt (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Spilling.] To cover or decorate with slender pieces of wood, metal, ivory, etc.; to inlay. [Obs.] Spenser.

Spill (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spilled (?), or Spilt (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Spilling.] [OE. spillen,sually, to destroy, AS. spillan, spildan, to destroy; akin to Icel. spilla to destroy, Sw. spilla to spill, Dan. spilde,G. & D. spillen to squander, OHG. spildan.] 1. To destroy; to kill; to put an end to. [Obs.]

And gave him to the queen, all at her will To choose whether she would him save or spill.

Chaucer.

Greater glory think to save than spill.

Spenser.

2. To mar; to injure; to deface; hence, to destroy by misuse; to waste. [Obs.]

They [the colors] disfigure the stuff and spill the whole workmanship.

Puttenham.

Spill not the morning, the quintessence of day, in recreations.

Fuller.

3. To suffer to fall or run out of a vessel; to lose, or suffer to be scattered; -- applied to fluids and to substances whose particles are small and loose; as, to spill water from a pail; to spill quicksilver from a vessel; to spill powder from a paper; to spill sand or flour.

Spill differs from pour in expressing accidental loss, -- a loss or waste contrary to purpose.

4. To cause to flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed, or suffer to be shed, as in battle or in manslaughter; as, a man spills another's blood, or his own blood.

And to revenge his blood so justly spilt.

Dryden.

5. (Naut.) To relieve a sail from the pressure of the wind, so that it can be more easily reefed or furled, or to lessen the strain.

Spilling line (Naut.), a rope used for spilling, or dislodging, the wind from the belly of a sail. Totten.