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.
Note: 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.)
Defn: 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.
SPILL
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.
SPILLER
Spill"er, n.
1. One who, or that which, spills.