Definitions for spell
spɛlspell

Princeton's WordNet(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. enchantment, spell, trancenoun

   a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation

2. go, spell, tour, turnnoun

   a time for working (after which you will be relieved by someone else)

   "it's my go"; "a spell of work"

3. while, piece, spell, patchnoun

   a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition

   "he was here for a little while"; "I need to rest for a piece"; "a spell of good weather"; "a patch of bad weather"

4. spell, magic spell, magical spell, charmverb

   a verbal formula believed to have magical force

   "he whispered a spell as he moved his hands"; "inscribed around its base is a charm in Balinese"

5. spell, spell outverb

   orally recite the letters of or give the spelling of

   "How do you spell this word?" "We had to spell out our names for the police officer"

6. spell, importverb

   indicate or signify

   "I'm afraid this spells trouble!"

7. spell, writeverb

   write or name the letters that comprise the conventionally accepted form of (a word or part of a word)

   "He spelled the word wrong in this letter"

8. spellverb

   relieve (someone) from work by taking a turn

   "She spelled her husband at the wheel"

9. spellverb

   place under a spell

10. spellverb

    take turns working

    "the workers spell every four hours"

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. SPELLnoun

   Etymology: spel , Saxon, a word.

   1. A charm consisting of some words of occult power. Thus Quintus Horatius Flaccus uses words: Sunt verba & voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem Possis.

   Start not; her actions shall be holy:
   You hear my spell is lawful: do not shun her,
   Until you see her die again; for then
   You kill her double. William Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale.

   Some have delivered the polity of spirits, that they stand in awe of charms, spells, and conjurations, letters, characters, notes, and dashes. Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errours.

   Thou durst not thus disparage glorious arms,
   Had not spells
   And black enchantments, some magician’s art,
   Arm’d thee or charm’d thee strong. John Milton, Agonistes.

   Begin, begin, the mystick spell prepare. John Milton.

   Yourself you so excel,
   When you vouchsafe to breathe my thought,
   That like a spirit with this spell
   Of my own teaching, I am caught. Edmund Waller.

   Mild Lucina
   Then reach’d her midwife hands to speed the throes,
   And spoke the pow’rful spells that babes to birth disclose. Dry.

   2. A turn of work.

   Their toil is so extreme as they cannot endure it above four hours in a day, but are succeeded by spells: the residue of the time they wear out at coytes and kayles. Carew.

2. To Spellverb

   Etymology: spellen, Dutch.

   1. To write with the proper letters.

   In the criticism of spelling, the word satire ought to be with i, and not with y; and if this be so, then it is false spelled throughout. John Dryden, Juvenal, Dedication.

   2. To read by naming letters singly.

   I never yet saw man,
   How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featur’d,
   But she would spell him backward; if fair fac’d,
   She’d swear the gentleman should be her sister. William Shakespeare.

   3. To charm.

   I have you fast:
   Unchain your spirits now with spelling charms,
   And try if they can gain your liberty. William Shakespeare, Henry VI.

   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. Dryden.

3. To Spellverb

   1. To form words of letters.

   What small knowledge was, in them did dwell;
   And he a god, who could but read or spell. Dryden.

   By pasting on the vowels and consonants on the sides of four dice, he has made this a play for his children, whereby his eldest son in coats, has played himself into spelling. John Locke.

   The Latin, being written of the same character with the mother-tongue, by the assistance of a spelling book, it is legible. Spectator.

   Another cause, which hath maimed our language, is a foolish opinion that we ought to spell exactly as we speak. Jonathan Swift.

   2. To read.

   If I read aught in heav’n,
   Or heav’n write aught of fate, by what the stars,
   Voluminous or single characters,
   In their conjunction met, give me to spell,
   Sorrows and labours, opposition, hate,
   Attends thee. John Milton, Paradise Lost.

   When gowns, not arms, repell’d
   The fierce Epirote, and the African bold,
   Whether to settle peace, or to unfold
   The drift of hollow states, hard to be spell’d. John Milton.

   And may at last my weary age
   Find out the peaceful hermitage,
   Where I may sit and rightly spell
   Of every star that heav’n doth shew,
   And every herb that sips the dew. John Milton.

   3. To read unskilfully.

   As to his understanding, they bring him in void of all notion, a rude unwritten blank; sent into the world only to read and spell out a God in the works of creation. South.

Wikipedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. spell

   Ladin Dolomitan or standard Ladin is the standard written constructed language (Dachsprache) based on the similarities of the five main dialect-groups of Ladin. It is the desired outcome of the project called SPELL (Servisc per la Planificazion y Elaborazion dl Lingaz Ladin – "service for the planning and preparation of the Ladin language") under the initiative of The Union Generala di Ladins dles Dolomites (project owner) and the Ladin cultural institutes Micurà de Rü, Majon di Fascegn and Istitut Pedagogich Ladin to create a unified standard written language.

Webster Dictionary(4.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Spellnoun

   a spelk, or splinter

2. Spellverb

   to supply the place of for a time; to take the turn of, at work; to relieve; as, to spell the helmsman

3. Spellnoun

   the relief of one person by another in any piece of work or watching; also, a turn at work which is carried on by one person or gang relieving another; as, a spell at the pumps; a spell at the masthead

4. Spellnoun

   the time during which one person or gang works until relieved; hence, any relatively short period of time, whether a few hours, days, or weeks

5. Spellnoun

   one of two or more persons or gangs who work by spells

6. Spellnoun

   a gratuitous helping forward of another's work; as, a logging spell

7. Spellnoun

   a story; a tale

8. Spellnoun

   a stanza, verse, or phrase supposed to be endowed with magical power; an incantation; hence, any charm

9. Spellverb

   to tell; to relate; to teach

10. Spellverb

    to put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm

11. Spellverb

    to constitute; to measure

12. Spellverb

    to tell or name in their proper order letters of, as a word; to write or print in order the letters of, esp. the proper letters; to form, as words, by correct orthography

13. Spellverb

    to discover by characters or marks; to read with difficulty; -- usually with out; as, to spell out the sense of an author; to spell out a verse in the Bible

14. Spellverb

    to form words with letters, esp. with the proper letters, either orally or in writing

15. Spellverb

    to study by noting characters; to gain knowledge or learn the meaning of anything, by study

16. Etymology: [OE. spellen, spellien, tell, relate, AS. spellian, fr. spell a saying, tale; akin to MHG. spellen to relate, Goth. spilln.e Spell a tale. In sense 4 and those following, OE. spellen, perhaps originally a different word, and from or influenced by spell a splinter, from the use of a piece of wood to point to the letters in schools: cf. D. spellen to spell. Cf. Spell splinter.]

Freebase(2.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Spell

   Spell was a collaboration between Rose McDowall and Boyd Rice. The two cover a number of songs from the 1960s and 1970s, often modifying the lyrics to make them darker. For instance the line in the original song Seasons in the Sun: "Goodbye Papa, please pray for me" becomes "Goodbye Papa, don't pray for me". Several references to Hell and death are added as well.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Spell

   spel, n. any form of words supposed to possess magical power: fascination.—v.t. to tell or name the letters of: to name, write, or print the proper letters of.—v.i. to form words with the proper letters: to study:—pr.p. spell′ing; pa.t. and pa.p. spelled, spelt.—adjs. Spell′able, capable of being spelled; Spell′-bound, Spell′-stopped (Shak.), entranced, fascinated.—ns. Spell′er, one who spells: one skilled in spelling; Spell′ing, act of spelling or naming the letters of words: orthography; Spell′ing-bee, a competition in spelling; Spell′ing-book, a book for teaching to spell; Spell′-work, that which is wrought by spells or charms: power of magic.—Spell backward, to spell, repeat, or arrange in reverse order: to understand in a contrary sense: to turn wrong-side out, misconstrue one's qualities; Spell baker, to do something difficult, that word being one of the earliest dissyllables in children's books. [A.S. spell, a narrative; Goth. spill, Ice. spjall, a tale.]

2. Spell

   spel, v.t. to take another's place at work:—pr.p. spell′ing; pa.t. and pa.p. spelled.—n. a turn at work: a short period indefinitely: an interval of rest: a bad turn. [A.S. spelian, to act for another; cf. Dut. spelen, Ger. spielen, to play.]

The New Hacker's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. spell

   Syn. incantation.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. spell

   The period wherein one or more sailors are employed in particular duties demanding continuous exertion. Such are the spells to the hand-lead in sounding, to working the pumps, to look out on the mast-head, &c., and to steer the ship, which last is generally called the "trick at the wheel." Spel-ian, Anglo-Saxon, "to supply another's room." Thus, Spell ho! is the call for relief.

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. spell

   Song lyrics by spell -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by spell on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Alternate
   • Bewitch
   • Mean
   • Psychological State
   • Relieve
   • Time

British National Corpus

1. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'spell' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1826

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'spell' in Nouns Frequency: #2019

3. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'spell' in Verbs Frequency: #711

How to pronounce spell?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say spell in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of spell in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of spell in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of spell in a Sentence

1. Kilburn Hall:

   President Obama smoked so much pot in college he never learned to spell. Which is why he's confusing the word "ruining" the country with "running" the country.

2. Ajit Pawar:

   Every year, the first spell of rainfall throws normal life out of gear in Mumbai. An inquiry is needed into why this happens despite claims of preparations.

3. James Gagliano:

   I have never been exposed to someone as prepared, as fair, as impartial, as unbiased and as precise in his language as John Gleeson, john Gotti could spell a death knell for a case just in three or four words.

4. Laura Bush:

   You till be glad to know the President is practicing safe snacks. in reference to her husband's fainting spell caused by a pretzel

5. Carly Fiorina:

   There’s no doubt that China has some real issues in front of it and the devaluation of the yuan as well as the huge selloff in their markets spell trouble ahead, so I think it’s justified.

Popularity rank by frequency of use