Pa. t. and pa. pple. spelled, spelt. Also 4–5 spelle, 5 spellyn; 5–7 spel. [ad. OF. espeller (also espeler, mod.F. épeler: see SPELE v.2), f. the Germanic stem spell-: see prec. and SPELL sb.1 The earlier OF. type *espeldre is represented by SPELDER v.1 Du. and Flem. spellen, WFris. spelle, spjelle, in this sense may also be from French, rather than directly connected with SPELL v.1]
I. trans. 1. To read (a book, etc.) letter by letter; to peruse, or make out, slowly or with difficulty.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14692. Your aun bok yee can noght spell.
c. 1400. Trevisa’s Higden (Rolls), VII. 333. Lanfranc … took hym a þing with letter [L. abecedarium litterarum] for to spel.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 468/1. Spellyn (S. letters), sillabico.
1530. Palsgr., 728/1. He hath bene at scole thys halfe yere and yet he can nat spell his pater noster.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v., He begins to spell the Letters.
1780. Mirror, No. 75. What must be the state of him who sits down to spell the newspapers with the determined resolution of believing whatever he sees in print?
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 298. As they approach to spell the age, the name, And all the titles of th’ illustrious dame.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., vi. Reading all the newspapers, spelling the red-book and the directory.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, v. He was spelling the paper, with the help of his lips.
b. With out or over.
c. 1813. S. Smith, in Lady Holland, Mem. S. Smith (1855), I. vii. 157. He … spelt over the county paper on Sundays.
1820. Shelley, Witch Atl., xxvi. All day the wizard lady sate aloof, Spelling out scrolls of dread antiquity.
1864. Thackeray, D. Duval, i. (1869), 4. It used to be my lot as a boy to spell out my lady Viscountess’s letters to her.
c. To make (one’s way) letter by letter in reading.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., i. I. 45. Not one man in five hundred could have spelled his way through a psalm.
2. fig. a. To discover or find out, to guess or suspect, by close study or observation. Also with out.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, i. 8. A plaine booke laide open to all men … to reade, and (as yee would say) euen to spell God therein.
1635. Jackson, Creed, VIII. xxii. 252. The babes then did spel the Prophets meaning not amisse.
1691. trans. Emiliane’s Observ. Journ. Naples, 82. Spelling nothing good from it, he went immediately to the Door of the Church.
1707. Norris, Treat. Humility, vii. 324. One may make a shift to spell out who is the gentleman, and who it is that would only be thought so.
1879. Spurgeon, Serm., XXV. 333. That there should be a God, heathens might spell out.
b. To make out, understand, decipher, or comprehend, by study. Also with out.
1635. Jackson, Creed, VIII. xvii. 189. Hee that could rightly spell the severall passages in the forementioned authors.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 385. By what the Stars … In thir conjunction met, give me to spell.
1681. Flavel, Meth. Grace, xi. 238. Christ is an unsearchable mercy: who can spell his wonderful name.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, V. 77. Unskill’d to spell aright The oracles predictive of the woe.
1820. Praed, Surly Hall, 80, Poems 1864, II. 117. He … spells a horse’s teeth divinely.
1842. H. Rogers, Ess. (1874), I. i. 36. The arts of spelling out and piecing the mouldering records of antiquity.
1886. Dowden, Shelley (1887), I. ii. 72. Nor was his an intellect that could spell out patiently the lessons of nature.
c. To consider, contemplate, scan intently. Also with over.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, iv. Will great God measure with a wretch? Shall he thy stature spell?
1654. H. L’Estrange, Chas. I. (1655), 118. So that in short (all circumstances spell’d together) I may safely say [etc.].
1821. Scott, Kenilw., vii. I will sit on this footstool at thy feet, that I may spell over thy splendour. Ibid. (1823), Quentin D., xiii. As if he were in the act of internally spelling and dissecting every lineament and feature.
1859. Tennyson, Vivien, 217. For still I find Your face is practised when I spell the lines.
d. To turn out (literary work or writing) with some difficulty.
1829. Scott, Jrnl., 15 May. I have spelled out some work this day, though I have been rather knocked about.
3. To name or set down in order the letters of (a word or syllable); to enunciate or write letter by letter; to denote by certain letters in a particular order.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. i. 50. What is A b speld backward with the horn on his head?
a. 1595. R. Southwell, Mæoniæ, Virgin’s Salutation. Spell Eva back and Ave shall you find.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 151. Cause also euery one to spel the words which he hath made in Latine,… so as [etc.].
1693. Dryden, Disc. Satire, Ess. (ed. Ker), II. 67. If this be so, then it is false spelled throughout this book. Ibid. The French … never spell it any other way than satire.
1750. Gray, Elegy, 81. Their name, their years, spelt by th’ unletter’d Muse, The place of fame and elegy supply.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 283. Leaving an obscure, rude name, In characters uncouth, and spelt amiss.
1842. Proc. Philol. Soc., I. 7. Their mode of spelling the passive participle.
1888. Sweet, Hist. Eng. Sounds, 70. The same word may be spelt in half-a-dozen different ways on the same page.
fig. a. 1668. Lassels, Voy. Italy (1670), I. Pref. Though these things be but the Elements and Alphabet of breeding, yet without them he can never spel gentleman rightly.
b. Similarly with out.
1867. Chambers’s Encycl., IX. 52/2. The medium, under spirit-guidance, spelling out the requisite words.
1871. ‘M. Legrand,’ Cambr. Freshm., 356. The machine was clicking away, and the needle rapidly spelling out its message.
1899. F. T. Bullen, Way Navy, 83. The discordant notes of sirens spelling out each ship’s name.
c. Of letters: To form (a word).
1834. Marryat, J. Faithful, iv. What doth c-a-t spell then?
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., v. He went on quickly, until he had formed … the word Jarndyce.… ‘What does that spell?’ he asked me.
d. slang. (See quot.)
1865. Slang Dict., 241. Spell, to advertise, to put into print.
4. fig. † a. To spell (one) backward, to misrepresent; to pervert. Obs.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. i. 60. I neuer yet saw man … But she would spell him backward.
1669. Hopkins, Serm. (1685), 42. What is this but to spell the Magistrates backwards and to give him that power over your consciences by his prohibitions, which you deny to his commands?
b. To spell … short, to express by a shorter and blunter term.
1830. De Quincey, R. Bentley, Wks. 1857, VII. 76. A dedication from an author of weight was what the French used to understand by a pot-de-vin; in fact, ‘spelt short,’ it was a bribe.
c. To spell baker, to have, or perform, a difficult task. U.S. colloq.
1868. Longfellow, Giles Corey, II. i. If an old man will marry a young wife, Why then—why then—why then—he must spell Baker!
5. To amount to; to signify, imply or involve. (Common in recent use.)
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. 134 (Webster). The Saxon Heptarchy, when seven Kings put together did spell but one in effect.
1890. Saintsbury, in New Rev., Feb., 142. There can be no question … that ‘Republic’ usually spells ‘corruption.’
1891. Spectator, 27 June, 885/2. To go on trading on these terms would very soon spell ruin.
II. intr. 6. To form words by means of letters; to repeat or set down the letters of words; to read off the separate letters forming a word or words.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 630. He … wonder wele leres, Sped him in a schort space to spell & to rede.
1570. Levins, Manip., 55. To spel, syllabam copouere.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. iii. 88. O she knew well, Thy Loue did read by rote, that could not spell.
c. 1645. Milton, Sonn., xi. Some in file Stand spelling fals.
1685. Baxter, Paraphr. N. T., Matt. xiii. 13. I speak to them in similitudes, as children must be first taught to spell.
1712. Swift, Prop. Correcting Eng. Tongue, Wks. 1841, II. 288/1. A foolish opinion … that we ought to spell exactly as we speak.
a. 1764. Lloyd, Poet, Poet. Wks. 1774, II. 23. Those who cannot spell will Talk.
1816. Byron, A Sketch, 14. She taught the child to read, and taught so well, That she herself, by teaching, learn’d to spell.
1870. Rogers, Hist. Gleanings, Ser. II. 137. He never could spell accurately.
b. fig. To engage in study or contemplation of something. poet.
1632. Milton, Penseroso, 170. The … Mossy Cell, Where I may sit and rightly spell Of every Star that Heav’n doth shew.
1738. Gray, Propertius, ii. 15. Then let me rightly spell of nature’s ways.
7. To intimate or suggest a desire for something; to ask for, either by hints or direct request.
WFlem. spellen is similarly used (De Bo).
1790. Bentham, Wks. (1843), X. 230. Was it natural … to spell for such a thing in the most distant manner?
1818. Jane Austen, Persuasion, II. x. 215. I had not the smallest intention of asking him,… but he gave so many hints:… I never saw any body in my life spell harder for an invitation.
1840. J. H. Newman, Lett. (1891), I. 429. Before I had given him anything, he began to spell for something. Ibid. (1860), II. 105. It will be observed … that he ‘spelled’ for the curacy.
1876. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., 181/2. ‘He was a good hand at spelling for ’t,’ clever at entreaty.
b. With other constructions.
c. 1800. R. Cumberland, John De Lancaster (1809), II. 52. Nephew David spells hard to borrow him, but I won’t lend him to David of all men living.
1821. Combe, Syntax, Wife, IV. (Chandos Cl.), 339. Syntax with native keenness felt At what the cunning tradesman spelt.
1855. [Robinson], Whitby Gloss., s.v., ‘He spell’d hard in the matter,’ he endeavoured perseveringly to gain his point.
