ink spill
- noun
- /ɪŋk spɪl/
- He rushed to clean up the ink spill before anyone noticed.
Examples
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The ink spill stained her shirt and the desk beyond repair.
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I noticed an ink spill on the table.
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After an ink spill, the drawings on the page were ruined.
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The ink spill ruined my favorite shirt.
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She quickly grabbed a rag to clean up the ink spill on her desk before it could stain the wood.
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The artist was frustrated by the ink spill that ruined her carefully prepared sketches.
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After the unexpected ink spill, he had to replace his favorite shirt to get rid of the stain.
Synonyms
An accidental flow of liquid from a container
A small mark often made by ink or dirt
An amount of liquid or other substance that flows out by accident
A dark patch of ink from a spill or a smudge
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an accidental release of ink' is directly and compositionally derived from 'ink' (pigmented liquid) + 'spill' (an accidental release of liquid); the noun phrase follows a straightforward modifier–head pattern. This construction is cross-linguistically common and would be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Ink spill comes from the clear picture of a bottle of ink tipping over so the spill runs across a page and makes dark stains that ruin the work. That's why it means 'an accidental release of ink'.