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Definition spell

Etymology 1

From Middle English spell, spel, from Old English spel (noun), from Proto-Germanic *spell? (“speech, account, tale”), from Proto-Indo-European *spel- (“to tell”). Cognate with dialectal German Spill, Icelandic spjall (“discussion, talk”), spjalla (“to discuss, to talk”), guðspjall (“gospel”) and Albanian fjalë (“word”).

Noun

spell (plural spells)

1. Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. [from 16th c.]
2. A magical effect or influence induced by an incantation or formula. [from 16th c.]
3. (obsolete) Speech, discourse. [8th-15th c.]

Verb

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled)

1. To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.
2. (obsolete) To speak, to declaim. [9th-16th c.]
3. (obsolete) To tell; to relate; to teach.

Etymology 2

From Old French espel(l)er (compare Modern French épeler), from Frankish *spelôn, from Proto-Germanic *spell?n? (“to speak”).

Verb

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled or (mostly UK) spelt)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To read (something) as though letter by letter; to peruse slowly or with effort. [from 14th c.]
2. (transitive, sometimes with “out”) To write or say the letters that form a word or part of a word. [from 16th c.]
3. (intransitive) To be able to write or say the letters that form words.
4. (transitive) Of letters: to compose (a word). [from 19th c.]
5. (transitive, figuratively) To indicate that (some event) will occur. [from 19th c.]
6. (transitive, figuratively, with “out”) To clarify; to explain in detail. [from 20th c.]
7. To constitute; to measure.

Etymology 3

From Middle English spelen, from Old English spelian, akin to spala (“substitute”).

Verb

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled or spelt)

1. (transitive) To work in place of (someone).
2. (transitive) To rest (someone or something), to give someone or something a rest or break.
3. (intransitive, colloquial) To rest from work for a time.

Noun

spell (plural spells)

1. A shift (of work); (rare) a set of workers responsible for a specific turn of labour. [from 16th c.]
2. (informal) A definite period (of work or other activity). [from 18th c.]
3. (colloquial) An indefinite period of time (usually with a qualifier); by extension, a relatively short distance. [from 18th c.]
4. A period of rest; time off. [from 19th c.]
5. (colloquial, US) A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc. [from 19th c.]
6. (cricket) An uninterrupted series of alternate overs bowled by a single bowler. [from 20th c.]

Etymology 4

Origin uncertain; perhaps a form of speld.

Noun

spell (plural spells)

1. (dialectal) A splinter, usually of wood; a spelk.
2. The wooden bat in the game of trap ball, or knurr and spell.

Results 464 Words with the letters SPELL

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