Old English spillan "destroy, mutilate, kill," also in late Old English "to waste," variant of spildan "destroy," from Proto-Germanic *spilthjan (source also of Old High German spildan "to spill," Old Saxon spildian "destroy, kill," Old Norse spilla "to destroy," Danish spilde "lose, spill, waste," Middle Dutch spillen "to waste, spend"), from a probable PIE root *spel- (1) "to split, break off" (source also of Middle Dutch spalden, Old High German spaltan "to split;" Greek aspalon "skin, hide," spolas "flayed skin;" Latin spolium "skin, hide;" Lithuanian spaliai "shives of flax;" Old Church Slavonic rasplatiti "to cleave, split;" Middle Low German spalden, Old High German spaltan "to split;" Sanskrit sphatayati "splits").

Sense of "let (liquid) fall or run out" developed mid-14c. from use of the word in reference to shedding blood (early 14c.). Intransitive sense "to run out and become wasted" is from 1650s. Spill the beans recorded by 1910 in a sense of "spoil the situation;" 1919 as "reveal a secret." To cry for spilt milk (usually with negative) is attested from 1738. Related: Spilled; spilt; spilling.

c. 1200, despoilen, "rob, plunder, ravage;" c. 1300, "strip off" (clothes, armor, etc.); from Old French despoillier "to strip, rob, deprive of, steal; borrow" (12c., Modern French dépouiller), from Latin despoliare "to rob, despoil, plunder," from de- "entirely" (see de-) + spoliare "to strip of clothing, rob," from spolium "skin, hide; arms, armor; booty" (see spoil (v.)). Related: Despoiled; despoiling.

"act or fact of despoiling," 1650s, from Late Latin despoliationem (nominative despoliatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin despoliare "to rob, despoil, plunder," from de- "entirely" (see de-) + spoliare "to strip of clothing, rob," from spolium "skin, hide; arms, armor, booty" (see spoil (v.)). Earlier noun was despoilery (mid-15c.).

"excite, disturb, vex, annoy," 1825, American English spelling alteration to reflect a dialectal pronunciation of roil (q.v.) in a figurative sense. Compare heist from hoist and in the same era spile for spoil (v.). Bartlett writes that in both England and America roil "is now commonly pronounced and written rile" ["Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]. With up by 1844. In the sense of "make (liquid) thick or turbid by stirring up," by 1838. Related: Riled; riling.

1786, from verbal phrase (attested by 1711) in reference to one who "ruins" the "fun;" see spoil (v.) + sport (n.). Compare Chaucer's letgame "hinderer of pleasure" (late 14c.), from obsolete verb let (Middle English letten) "hinder, prevent, stop" (see let (n.)). Another old word for it was addle-plot "person who spoils any amusement" (1690s; see addle).

early 14c., "wheel for winding thread upon," from Old North French spole, espole "a spool" (13c.), from Middle Dutch spoele "a spool," from Proto-Germanic *spolon (source also of Norwegian and Swedish spole, Old High German spuola, German Spule "a spool, bobbin"), from PIE root *spel- (1) "to cleave, split" (see spoil (v.)).