name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
spall
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /spɔːl/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /spɔl/ without the cot–caught merger
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General-American, cot-caught-merger, dialectal: /spɑl/ of Canada
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Canada, dialectal: /spɒl/ of the US
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Australian, New-Zealand: /spoːl/
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rhymes with -ɔːl
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CMU ARPABET: S P AO1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A splinter, fragment or chip, especially of stone.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A process of weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Qualifier: especially concerning ferroconcrete structures or metal objects
Examples
- The failure of this bearing involved spall under high load.
- The inspection of this bridge abutment found extensive spall.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: spalling, spallation
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
The shoulder.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To break into fragments or small pieces.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To undergo weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: especially
Examples
- When the bearing race spalled under high load, it led to the failure of the bearing.
- Once the concrete had spalled extensively, the bridge could no longer pass an honest inspection.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To reduce, as irregular blocks of stone, to an approximately level surface by hammering.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
a fragment broken off from the edge or face of stone or ore and having at least one thin edge
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a truck bearing a mound of blue spalls
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: spawl
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fragment
History
Etymology
Unknown.
From Middle English spalle (“a chip”) (first documented in 1440), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from the Middle English verb spald (“to split”) (c.1400), from Middle Low German spalden, cognate with Old High German spaltan (“to split”).
From Italian spalla. Doublet of spauld and spatula.
Across languages
Translations
15 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: thepël — splinter of stone
- Bulgarian: отломък (otlomǎk) — splinter of stone
- Finnish: siru — splinter of stone
- Polish: odłamek — splinter of stone
- Romanian: așchie — splinter of stone
- Russian: обло́мок (oblómok) — splinter of stone
- Russian: оско́лок (oskólok) — splinter of stone
- Serbo-Croatian: ulomak — splinter of stone
- Bulgarian: ломя (lomja) — to break into fragments
- Bulgarian: троша (troša) — to break into fragments
- Finnish: pirstaloitua — to break into fragments
- Finnish: sirpaloitua — to break into fragments
- Finnish: mennä säpäleiksi — to break into fragments
- Polish: rozpaść się — to break into fragments
- Serbo-Croatian: istucati — to break into fragments