Part 649

Spill, v. i. 1. To be destroyed, ruined, or wasted; to come to ruin; to perish; to waste. [Obs.]

That thou wilt suffer innocents to spill.

Chaucer.

2. To be shed; to run over; to fall out, and be lost or wasted. "He was so topful of himself, that he let it spill on all the company." I. Watts.

Spill"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, spills.

2. A kind of fishing line with many hooks; a boulter.

{ Spil"let fish`ing (?), Spil"liard fish`ing (?), } A system or method of fishing by means of a number of hooks set on snoods all on one line; -- in North America, called trawl fishing, bultow, or bultow fishing, and long-line fishing.

Spil"li*kin (?), n. See Spilikin.

Spill"way` (?), n. A sluiceway or passage for superfluous water in a reservoir, to prevent too great pressure on the dam.

Spilt (?), imp. & p. p. of Spill. Spilled.

Spil"ter (?), n. [From Spill, n.] Any one of the small branches on a stag's head. [Obs.] Howell.

Spilth (?), n. [From Spill.] Anything spilt, or freely poured out; slop; effusion. [Archaic] "With drunken spilth of wine." Shak.

Choicest cates, and the flagon's best spilth.

R. Browning.

Spin (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spun (?) (Archaic imp. Span (&?;)); p. pr. & vb. n. Spinning.] [AS. spinnan; akin to D. & G. spinnen, Icel. & Sw. spinna, Dan. spinde, Goth. spinnan, and probably to E. span. √170. Cf. Span, v. t., Spider.] 1. To draw out, and twist into threads, either by the hand or machinery; as, to spin wool, cotton, or flax; to spin goat's hair; to produce by drawing out and twisting a fibrous material.

All the yarn she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths.

Shak.

2. To draw out tediously; to form by a slow process, or by degrees; to extend to a great length; -- with out; as, to spin out large volumes on a subject.

Do you mean that story is tediously spun out?

Sheridan.

3. To protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day in idleness.

By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives.

L'Estrange.

4. To cause to turn round rapidly; to whirl; to twirl; as, to spin a top.

5. To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, or the like) from threads produced by the extrusion of a viscid, transparent liquid, which hardens on coming into contact with the air; -- said of the spider, the silkworm, etc.

6. (Mech.) To shape, as malleable sheet metal, into a hollow form, by bending or buckling it by pressing against it with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal revolves, as in a lathe.

To spin a yarn (Naut.), to tell a story, esp. a long or fabulous tale. -- To spin hay (Mil.), to twist it into ropes for convenient carriage on an expedition. -- To spin street yarn, to gad about gossiping. [Collog.]

Spin (?), v. i. 1. To practice spinning; to work at drawing and twisting threads; to make yarn or thread from fiber; as, the woman knows how to spin; a machine or jenny spins with great exactness.