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to spill your drink

to spill your drink

3 1.1
To let the drink in your cup or glass fall by accident
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : derramar la bebida
  • She accidentally spilled her drink all over the table.

Examples

Synonyms

to drop
vsto spill your drink
1.0

To let something fall suddenly or by accident

is narrower about tipping a cup or glass and losing liquid by accident
to spill
vsto spill your drink
347 1.0

To accidentally cause liquid to flow out of a container

is about tipping a cup or glass so liquid runs out accidentally
to knock over
vsto spill your drink
68 2.6

Make something fall by hitting or bumping it

focuses on tipping a cup or glass so liquid pours out by accident

How Messy

to knock over
68 2.6
to tip over
27 3.0
to spill your drink
3 1.1
to dribble
15 2.8

Surface Forms

spill your drink infinitive
spilled your drink past participle
spilling your drink present participle
spills your drink third person singular

Morphology

spill + your + drink

The meaning 'to accidentally cause the liquid in your drink to flow out' is directly and transparently built from the verb 'spill' plus the possessive 'your' and the noun 'drink'; the combination describes a literal, observable action. This compositional, cross-linguistically common event is predictable for a B1 learner who knows the constituent words, so prior exposure is not required.

Etymology

Spill your drink comes from the simple picture of knocking over a glass so the liquid runs out, where the verb spill is the action and drink is the thing that falls. So it means to let your drink flow out 'by accident' and usually make a mess.