see also: Spell
Pronunciation Etymology 1
From Middle English spell, spel, from Old English spell, from Proto-Germanic *spellą, from Proto-Indo-European *spel- or from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- with the s-mobile prefix.
Nounspell (plural spells)
- Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. [from 16th c.]
- Synonyms: cantrip, incantation
- He cast a spell to cure warts.
- A magical effect or influence induced by an incantation or formula. [from 16th c.]
- Synonyms: cantrip
- under a spell
- 2020, Deftones, The Spell of Mathematics:
- I believe your love has placed its spell on me
- (obsolete) Speech, discourse. [8th–15th c.]
- French: charme, maléfice (for an evil spell), sort, sort, formule magique
- German: Zauberspruch, Zauberformel, Zauberwort
- Italian: incantesimo, formula magica, fattura, maledizione, maleficio, sortilegio, malocchio
- Portuguese: encantamento, feitiço
- Russian: заклина́ние
- Spanish: encanto, hechizo, conjuro, brujería
- French: charme, maléfice (for an evil spell), sort
- German: Zauber
- Italian: fattura, maleficio
- Portuguese: encanto, encantamento, feitiço
- Spanish: encantamiento, hechizo, encanto
spell (spells, present participle spelling; simple past and past participle spelled)
- To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iii], page 115 ↗, column 2:
- Vnchaine your spirits now with spelling Charmes,
- 1647, George Buck, The History and Life and Reigne of Richard the Third, London, Book 4, p. 116:
- […] although the Kings Jealousie was thus particular to her, his Affection was as general to others […] Above all, for a time he was much speld with Elianor Talbot […]
- 1697, John Dryden (translator), Georgics, Book 3 in The Works of Virgil, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 109, lines 444-446,
- This, gather’d in the Planetary Hour,
- With noxious Weeds, and spell’d with Words of pow’r
- Dire Stepdames in the Magick Bowl infuse;
- German: verzaubern
- Spanish: encantar
From Middle English spellen, from Anglo-Norman espeler, espeleir, Old French espeller, espeler (compare Modern French épeler), from Frankish *spelōn, merged with native Old English spellian, both eventually from Proto-Germanic *spellōną.
Verbspell (spells, present participle spelling; simple past and past participle spelled)
(intransitive, transitive, sometimes with “out”) To write or say the letters that form a word or part of a word. [from 16th c.] - I find it difficult to spell because I'm dyslexic.
- (transitive, obsolete) To read (something) as though letter by letter; to peruse slowly or with effort. [from 14th c.]
- (transitive) Of letters: to compose (a word). [from 19th c.]
- The letters “a”, “n” and “d” spell “and”.
- (transitive, figuratively, with “out”) To clarify; to explain in detail. [from 20th c.]
- Please spell it out for me.
- (transitive) To indicate that (some event) will occur; typically followed by a single-word noun. [from 19th c.]
- This spells trouble.
- To constitute; to measure.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC ↗:
- the Saxon heptarchy, when seven kings put together did spell but one in effect
- (obsolete) To speak, to declaim. [9th]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗:
- O who can tell / The hidden power of herbes, and might of Magicke spell?
- (obsolete) To tell; to relate; to teach.
- 1770, Thomas Warton, “Ode on the Approach of Summer” in A Collection of Poems in Four Volumes, London: G. Pearch, Volume 1, p. 278,
- As thro’ the caverns dim I wind,
- Might I that legend find,
- By fairies spelt in mystic rhymes,
- 1770, Thomas Warton, “Ode on the Approach of Summer” in A Collection of Poems in Four Volumes, London: G. Pearch, Volume 1, p. 278,
- (to indicate that some event will occur) forebode; mean; signify
- (to compose a word) (informal) comprise
- French: épeler
- German: schreiben (write in a particular way); buchstabieren (name the letters)
- Italian: sillabare, compitare, scrivere
- Portuguese: soletrar
- Russian: произносить по буква
- Spanish: deletrear
- French: épeler
- German: bilden, ergeben
- Italian: compitare, fare lo spelling, sillabare
- Portuguese: soletrar
- Russian: писать по буква
- Spanish: deletrear
- German: bedeuten, vorhersagen
- Italian: presagire, vaticinare
- Portuguese: prever, pressagiar, vaticinar
- Spanish: anunciar, presagiar
- German: klarmachen, entziffern, auf gut Deutsch gesagt
- Spanish: descifrar, aclarar
From Middle English spelen, from Old English spelian, akin to Middle English spale, Old English spala.
Verbspell (spells, present participle spelling; simple past and past participle spelled)
- (transitive) To work in place of (someone).
- to spell the helmsman
- (transitive) To rest (someone or something), to give someone or something a rest or break.
- They spelled the horses and rested in the shade of some trees near a brook.
- (intransitive, colloquial) To rest from work for a time.
- German: abwechseln, vertreten
- Italian: rimpiazzare, sostituire, dare il cambio, rilevare
- Portuguese: render
- Spanish: reemplazar
spell (plural spells)
- A shift (of work); (rare) a set of workers responsible for a specific turn of labour. [from 16th c.]
- (informal) A definite period (of work or other activity). [from 18th c.]
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
- A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.
- (colloquial) An indefinite period of time (usually with a qualifier); by extension, a relatively short distance. [from 18th c.]
- A period of rest; time off. [from 19th c.]
- (colloquial, US) A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc. [from 19th c.]
- (cricket) An uninterrupted series of alternate overs bowled by a single bowler. [from 20th c.]
- German: kurze Periode, Weile, Weilchen, Zeitdauer
- Portuguese: breve período, intervalo
- Russian: пери́од
- Spanish: rato, período
- Spanish: berrinche, pataleta
From Middle English spele, from Old Norse.
Nounspell (plural spells)
- (dialectal) A splinter, usually of wood; a spelk.
- 1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC ↗; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], and J[ohn] Newbery, […], 1761, →OCLC ↗:
- To swadle a bowe much about wyth bandes, verye seldome dothe anye good, excepte it be to kepe downe a spel in the backe.
- The wooden bat in the game of trap ball, or knurr and spell.
Spell
Etymology
From the German - surname, perhaps related to Speller.
Proper nounThis text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.006
