spall
[spawl]
- a chip or splinter, as of stone or ore.
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- to break into smaller pieces, as ore; split or chip.
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- to break or split off in chips or bits.
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Origin of spall
1750–60; origin uncertain; compare late Middle English spalle a chip
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for spall
Contemporary Examples
Spall says that, faced with the contradictions in the research, they created an amalgam of them.
Tim [Spall] could well be nominated and not win because Hollywood films tend to win.
Spall spent two years training to paint in preparation for the role.
Spall plays him brilliantly as a grumbling, grunting beast of a man whose sensitivity and kindness emerges slowly.
Spall was rewarded for his hard work with the best actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
spall
- a splinter or chip of ore, rock, or stone
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- to split or cause to split into such fragments
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Word Origin
C15: of unknown origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for spall
n.
"chip of stone," mid-15c., from Middle English verb spald "to split open" (early 14c.), from or related to Middle Dutch spalden, Middle Low German spalden, cognate with Old High German spaltan "to split" (see spill (v.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper