Pronunciations
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/spɛl/
Noun
Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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He cast a spell to cure warts.
A magical effect or influence induced by an incantation or formula.
- Examples
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under a spell
Skies are not so black / Mary took me back / Mary has broken your spell
More examples (1)
I believe your love has placed its spell on me
Speech, discourse.
Usage- Obsolete
Verb
To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.
- Examples
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Vnchaine your spirits now with spelling Charmes,
More examples (2)
[…] 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;
But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me My sense with their deliciousness was spell’d:
To hanker or yearn (for something).
Usage- UK usage
- Obsolete
- Slang
- Examples
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More examples (1)
"I have not got a coal ticket with me." "I am sorry you should think I was 'spelling' for a coal ticket," he interrupted; "if such an idea had occurred to me, I should have asked for it straightforwardly."
Verb
To write or say the letters that form a word or part of a word.
Usage- Intransitive
- sometimes
- Transitive
- with “out”
- Examples
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I find it difficult to spell because I'm dyslexic.
To read (something) as though letter by letter; to peruse slowly or with effort.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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"He'll do," said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at his book in a mumbling tone quite audible.
Of letters: to compose (a word).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The letters “a”, “n” and “d” spell “and”.
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In Esperanto each letter has only one sound, and each sound is represented in only one way. The words are pronounced exactly as spelt, every letter being sounded.
Welcome to the League Aiming to Menace and Overthrow Spies! You realize that spells “LAMOS”?
To clarify; to explain in detail.
Usage- Figurative
- Transitive
- with “out”
- Examples
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Please spell it out for me.
More examples (1)
When we get elected, for instance, we get one of these, and we are pretty much told what is in it, and it is our responsibility to read it and understand it, and if we do not, the Ethics Committee, we can call them any time of day and ask them to spell it out for us[…]
To indicate that (some event) will occur; typically followed by a single-word noun.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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This spells trouble.
To constitute; to measure.
- Examples
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the Saxon heptarchy, when seven kings put together did spell but one in effect
To speak, to declaim.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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O who can tell / The hidden power of herbes, and might of Magicke spell?
To tell; to relate; to teach.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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,
To notate or indicate a pitch, interval, or chord using a particular enharmonic spelling.
- Examples
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The note D♭ is spelled differently from C♯, even though they sound equivalent.
The way you spell a chord reflects its harmonic function.
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A dominant seventh chord is spelled with a diminished seventh interval, not a major sixth.
Verb
To work in place of (someone).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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to spell the helmsman
To rest (someone or something), to give someone or something a rest or break.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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They spelled the horses and rested in the shade of some trees near a brook.
To rest from work for a time.
Usage- Colloquial
- Intransitive
Noun
A shift (of work); (rare) a set of workers responsible for a specific turn of labour.
A definite period (of work or other activity).
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
I had a job in the great North Woods / Workin' as a cook for a spell / But I never did like it all that much / And one day the ax just fell
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Despite his ill-fated spell at Anfield, he received a warm reception from the same Liverpool fans he struggled to win over before being sacked midway through last season.
An indefinite period of time (usually with a qualifier); by extension, a relatively short distance.
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
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Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her trouble for whole spells. [...] When he had spoken, Mina's long spell of silence made me look at her.
More examples (1)
So after a short spell in the brass foundry the wisest course was to follow with a similar period in the steel foundry, where much important work was done, including the manufacture of centres for wheels.
[...] Class 37s became synonymous with the depot, and over the years more than a third of the class had a spell allocated to the shed.
A period of rest; time off.
A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc.
Usage- US usage
- Colloquial
An uninterrupted series of alternate overs bowled by a single bowler.
Noun
A splinter, usually of wood; a spelk.
Usage- Northern-England
- Examples
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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.
Noun
a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation
- Synonyms
a time period for working (after which you will be relieved by someone else)
- Broader terms
- Examples
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it's my go
a spell of work
a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he was here for a little while
I need to rest for a piece
More examples (2)
a spell of good weather
a patch of bad weather
a verbal formula believed to have magical force
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he whispered a spell as he moved his hands
inscribed around its base is a charm in Balinese
Verb
orally recite the letters of or give the spelling of
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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How do you spell this word?
We had to spell out our names for the police officer
indicate or signify
- Synonyms
- Examples
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I'm afraid this spells trouble!
write or name the letters that comprise the conventionally accepted form of (a word or part of a word)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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He spelled the word wrong in this letter
relieve (someone) from work by taking a turn
- Examples
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She spelled her husband at the wheel
place under a spell
- Antonyms
take turns working
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the workers spell every four hours