Spill

Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary web : https://eddonline4-proj.uibk.ac.at/edd/main.html

SPILL, sb.2 and v.2 Wor. Hrf. Glo. Wil. Som. Dev. Cor. [spil.] 1. sb. A splinter. Cf. spell, sb.1, spile. s.Wor. The spills ought to be took off the sides o' the laather whur one's 'an's gooes (H.K.). Hrf.1 2. Part of a plough; see below. Dev. Made of ash, 1¼ inch thick by 3 inches in width, Moore Hist. Dev. (1829) I. 296. n.Dev. The level or spill, Grose (1790) MS. add. (M.) (s.v. Zowl). nw.Dev.1 The beam and chip are connected by two spills or stout pegs (s.v. Sull). 3. A wooden peg to close the vent-hole of a cask. Cor.3 4. A spindle; the axle upon which anything revolves. Som. Jennings Obs. Dial. w.Eng. (1825). w.Som.1 Aay mús ae·u nùe· spee·ul tu mee kwee·ul tuur·n, ee·z prau·pur u-wae·urd aewt. nw.Dev.1, Cor.3 Hence spill o' the wink, phr. an iron bar on which straw ropes are spun. Cor.3 5. The stem of a plant; a flower-stalk, esp. one that is long and straight. Wil.1 Som. (W.F.R.); Jennings Obs. Dial. w.Eng. (1825). w.Som.1 'Tis a thing what drows up a gurt long spill same's a flappy-dock. Dev. Reports Provinc. (1893); Dev.1, nw.Dev.1, Cor.3 Hence (1) Spill-more, sb. a tap-root; (2) to run to (a) spill, phr. to run to seed; to be unproductive. (1) Som. (W.F.R.) w.Som.1 ‘That tree is dead then, after all our trouble.’ ‘Well, sir, he 'ad'n a-got hardly any mores at all, he run'd straight down to a spill-more; I was afeard about'n when we took'n up.’ nw.Dev.1 (2) Wil.1 Som. (W.F.R.); Jennings Obs. Dial. w.Eng. (1825). w.Som.1, Dev.1 6. Of a tongue: the part without the root. w.Som.1 A butcher will refuse to sell the spill alone. ‘Nif I cuts off the spill o' un, what be I gwain to do way all the root?’ Dev. Horae Subsecivae (1777) 403. 7. v. To splinter; to split off; gen. used of wood and stone. Hrf.1, Glo.1 8. Used pass.: to run to seed. Dev.1

Source : Ben Thomas Moore, The History of Devonshire