spills

6 definitions • 14 examples

to (cause to) flow, move, fall, or spread over the edge or outside the limits of something:

I spilled coffee on my silk shirt.

You've spilled something down your tie.

Let's see if I can pour the juice into the glass without spilling it.

He dropped a bag of sugar and it spilled all over the floor.

Crowds of fans spilled onto the field at the end of the game.

an amount of something that has come out of a container:

a fuel spill on the road

Could you wipe up that spill, please?

In 1989, there was a massive oil spill in Alaska.

an occasion when someone is removed from a position of power in a party or government and replaced:

The Premier will keep his job despite backbencher attempts to initiate a spill.

to cause a liquid to flow or fall over the edge of a container or beyond the limits of something, or of a liquid to flow or fall in this way:

[ T ] I just spilled gravy on my shirt.

[ T ] He tried to fill the sugar bowl and managed to spill sugar all over the floor.

[ I ] Some milk spilled on the floor.

an amount of something that has flowed or fallen out of a container:

The tanker started to leak oil and officials worried about a major oil spill.

A spill is also a fall:

Jockey Luis Ortega suffered a broken ankle in a spill at Hollywood Park yesterday.