noun
Meaning 1
A story; a spiel.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: South-Africa
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
speel
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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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
noun
Meaning 2
A splinter; a strip of wood or metal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Cumbria
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A game.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal
Qualifier: rustic
Examples
- To play a good speel.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To climb.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-English, Scottish, dialectal
Examples
- 1832 March 5, Memoirs of a Paisley Baillie, The Day: A Journal of Literature, Fine Arts, Fashions, &c., Glasgow, page 218, This I thocht at the time when he was speeling up the ladder before me in the Hie Kirk steeple ; but good breeding, at that particular time, keeped me from taking ony correck view of how things stood in that quarter.
- 1860, Hugh MacDonald, Days at the Coast: A Series of Sketches Descriptive of the Firth of Clyde, Glasgow, page 255, There is a comfortable inn at this picturesque spot, where those who purpose speeling the lofty Ben generally prepare for their arduous undertaking.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To talk at length, to spiel.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- 1973, Irene Baird, Waste Heritage, Macmillan of Canada, page 262, “I must close now or I shall go on speeling all night. [...] ”
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To run.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Australia, dialectal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To lake, play, sport, take amusement.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal
Qualifier: rustic
Examples
- To speel ba'.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Probably from Afrikaans speel. Compare Middle English spel (“a story; tale; narrative”). Doublet of spell and shpiel.
Possibly related to spile.
Perhaps continuing Middle English spilen (“to revel, play”), from Old English spilian (“to revel, play”), from Proto-West Germanic *spilōn. Cognate with Dutch spelen (“to play”), German spielen (“to play”), Luxembourgish spillen (“to play”), Icelandic spila (“to play”), Faroese spæla (“to play”), Swedish spela (“to play”), Danish spille (“to play”), Norwegian spille (“to play”).
From Early Scots speill (“to climb”), of obscure origin. From or akin to Early Scots spelare (“acrobat, tumbler”). Probably from Middle Dutch spelen (“to play, walk a tight rope, do gymnastic tricks, juggle, perform as an actor or clown”), see spiel. Alternately, representing a continuation of Middle English spilen, from Old English spilian (“to play”).
From English dialectal speel (“talk; lingo; patter”), short for bonspiel. Related to spiel.