spieln.1
/spiːl/, U.S. /spi(ə)l/, Scottish English /spil/ Scottish.
A match at curling.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > curling > [noun] > match
bonspiela1772
spiel1824
1824 J. Mactaggart Sc. Gallovidian Encycl. 333 Then curling, and hurling, The channelstane at spiels.
1830 J. McDiarmid Sk. Nat. 252 I know nothing more exhilarating than a spiel on the ice.
1901 R. M. F. Watson Closeburn xiv. 232 In 1838 a spiel had not then been played in the memory of man in Aberdeenshire.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
spieln.2
/ʃpiːl/, /spiːl/, U.S. /spi(ə)l/, /ʃpi(ə)l/ slang (originally U.S.).
1. Talk, a story; a speech intended to persuade or advertise, patter. Also transferred.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > advertising > [noun] > sales pitch
spiel1896
1896 G. Ade Artie xi. 100 There was a long spiel by the high guy in the pulpit.
1905 N.Y. Evening Post 29 Dec. 4 He will spare no pains to reach one of them if he thinks he has a good ‘spiel’ or story to tell.
1906 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 25 Jan. 6/1 We appointed him mayor at five minutes' notice and gave him the job of giving the Chinks the right kind of a spiel.
1912 D. F. Canfield Squirrel Cage xxvii I must have dropped off just as you began your spiel.
1925 P. G. Wodehouse Sam the Sudden xiii. 92 He pulled this long spiel about having had a letter from a guy he used to know named Finglass.
1926 J. Black You can't Win ii. 9 Your capable beggar on the street does not say ‘please’. He rips off his spiel in such exact and precise language that you get your dime without it.
1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 189 In the missions, to make him lonely and the more susceptible to the ‘righteous spiel’, they sometimes sing Where is my wandering Boy Tonight?
1937 L. Lewis Radio Dict. in Printers' Ink Monthly May 42/2 Spiel, the advertising copy.
1944 D. Burley Orig. Handbk. Harlem Jive 59 I latched on to this hard, mad spiel.
1953 H. Miller Plexus I. iii. 137 Flatter the pants off him! Then go into a little spiel—you know what I mean. Give him some pointers on how to launch the magazine.
1959 New Statesman 19 Sept. 344/1 At the end of these flights the poor bored hostess is still compelled to repeat her antique spiel; ‘We hope you have enjoyed your flight.’
1962 J. Wain Strike Father Dead 59 I gave her just the Christian name, and she gave me the spiel about never having met anybody called that before, and its being a nice name, and so forth.
a1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 82 Then Callaghan started off with a long spiel which he read aloud from a Treasury brief on pale blue paper, describing the extreme gravity of the economic situation.
1980 Listener 13 Nov. 665/3 A long spiel..from a tart about how much horrider Soho has become.
2. A swindle, a dishonest line of business.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun] > dishonesty > trick or scheme
unwrenchc897
un-i-wrenchc1275
checkc1330
trippetc1330
wrest14..
knavery1528
foist1607
spiel1901
1901 ‘J. Flynt’ World of Graft iv. 169 I've been shut up a number of years..but I didn't mind them as much as you would; I took them as part of the spiel.
1921 P. Casey & T. Casey Gay-cat 303/1 ‘What's your spiel?’ asks one hobo of another.
1932 ‘W. Hatfield’ Ginger Murdoch 175 I reckon you were thinking you had shaken me off, and could go about your spiel, whatever it is.
1954 T. A. G. Hungerford Sowers of Wind 174 This isn't a spiel, Colonel... I know this bloke, and he's on the level.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
spielv.
/ʃpiːl/, /spiːl/, U.S. /spi(ə)l/, /ʃpi(ə)l/ slang (originally U.S.).
1.
a. intransitive. To gamble. Also rarely transitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > play games of chance [verb (intransitive)]
play1340
game1529
nick1611
to cast a chancea1628
to go even or odd1658
gamble1757
gaff1819
buck1849
spiel1859
1859 [implied in: G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 84 Speiling, gambling.].
1882 Sydney Slang Dict. 8/1 Speel, to gamble.
1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto I. iv. 124 They played loo, ‘klobbiyos’, napoleon... Old Hyams did not spiel, because he could not afford to.
1931 W. F. Brown in Police Jrnl. IV. 502 They speiled first for stakes of a sprazey,..increasing it..later to a half... This narrative..would in plain English read..They played first for stakes of a sixpence..increasing..later to ten shillings.
1953 W. Mankowitz Bespoke Overcoat xiv. 21 You go to the dog tracks in the evening? Not for me... Horses? No horses, neither. You must spiel something. Poker, shemmy?
b. To play music.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform music [verb (intransitive)]
dreamOE
to make melodyc1330
to make minstrelsyc1330
note1340
practise?a1425
gest1508
melody1596
music1649
melodize1662
perform1724
spiel1870
1870 Territorial Enterprise (Virginia City, Nevada) 16 July 3/1 The new ‘circus’ is to be seen at the corner of D street and Sutton avenue—down var der orkan goes a spielin'.
1871 Nassau Lit. Mag. Feb. 179 Come now, old fellow, ‘speil’.
1947 G. S. Perry Cities of Amer. 187 Denver's Symphony chooses to spiel only when winter's winds doth blow.
2. To talk, esp. volubly or glibly; to patter. Also with away.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > be talkative [verb (intransitive)] > talk excessively or chatter
chavel?c1225
babblea1250
chattera1250
clacka1250
janglea1300
ganglec1300
clapc1315
mumblec1350
blabberc1375
carp1377
tatterc1380
garre1382
rattlec1400
clatter1401
chimec1405
gabc1405
pattera1450
smattera1450
languetc1450
pratec1460
chat1483
jabber1499
clittera1529
cackle1530
prattle1532
blatter1533
blab1535
to run on pattens1546
tattle1547
prittle-prattlea1555
trattlea1555
tittle-tattle1556
quiddlea1566
brabble1570
clicket1570
twattle1573
gabble1574
prittle1583
to like to hear oneself speak, talk1597
to word it1612
deblaterate1623
tongue1624
twitter1630
snatter1647
oversay1656
whiffle1706
to gallop away1711
splutter1728
gob1770
gibble-gabble1775
palaver1781
to talk (etc.) nineteen to the dozen1785
gammon1789
witter1808
yabble1808
yaff1808
mag1810
chelp1820
tongue-pad1825
yatter1825
potter1826
chipper1829
jaw-jaw1831
buzz1832
to shoot off one's mouth1864
yawp1872
blate1878
chin1884
yap1888
spiel1894
to talk (also lie, swear, etc.) a blue streak1895
to run off at the mouth1908
chattermag1909
clatfart1913
to talk a streak1915
to run one's mouth1916
natter1942
ear-bash1944
rabbit1950
yack1950
yacker1961
to eat parrot head (also bottom)1965
yacket1969
to twat on1996
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > empty, idle talk > talk idly [verb (intransitive)]
chattera1250
drivelc1390
clatter1401
chatc1440
smattera1450
pratec1460
blaver1461
babble?1504
blether1524
boblec1530
trattlea1555
tittle-tattle1556
fable1579
tinkle1638
whiffle1706
slaver1730
doitera1790
jaunder1808
haver1816
maunder1816
blather1825
yatter1825
blat1846
bibble-babble1888
flap-doodle1893
twiddle1893
spiel1894
rot1896
blither1903
to run off at the mouth1908
drool1923
twiddle-twaddle1925
crap1940
natter1942
yack1950
yacker1961
yacket1969
1894 Mid-Winter Appeal (San Francisco) 10 Mar. 1/3 Tell [the barker] to stop spieling now and then.
1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings xiii. 220 If you can borrow some gent's hat in the audience, and make a lot of customers for an idle stock of shoes come out of it, you'd better spiel.
1914 Philad. Evening Post 9 May A live, little park full of side show tents..with..barkers spieling before the entrances and all the ballyhoos going at full blast.
1919 P. G. Wodehouse Their Mutual Child i. v. 68 Spiel away, ma'am... The floor's yours.
1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really Blues vi. 70 One of the funniest things I ever heard was Mac spieling in Yiddish.
1966 R. Sheckley Mindswap vii. 49 Silent and disdainful, scorning to spiel, the little man stood with arms folded as Flynn walked up to the booth.
3. transitive. To tell, to reel off; to announce; to perform.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > utter in a chattering manner [verb (transitive)]
cacklec1230
chattera1250
clapc1315
jangle1377
blabberc1380
trattlea1425
pratea1475
chat1483
prattlea1500
prittle-prattlea1555
gabble1566
blatter?1567
gaggle1577
clacket1579
knap1581
prittle1583
clack1590
volley1591
tattle1593
prabble1603
out-babble1649
garrulate1656
gabber?1661
chime1697
spiel1904
chitter-chatter1928
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performer > perform [verb (transitive)]
show?a1475
givea1500
spiel1904
1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings iii. 58 I'll come right back and hear you spiel the rest before bedtime.
1936 W. A. Gape Half a Million Tramps v. 139 When my turn came I was not ready to ‘spiel’ off the answers.
1962 Coast to Coast 1961–2 81 Garish neons had spieled, in Latin letters, the delights of innumerable honkeytonks.
1970 A. Toffler Future Shock xviii. 378 Each participant spieled off his reason for attending.
1977 Time 28 Nov. 64/1 In a few hours he would be on a..stage singing his songs and spieling his narrative jazz poetry to an audience of college kids.
Derivatives
ˈspieling n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > loquacity or talkativeness > [noun] > chattering
chaveling?c1225
janglingc1330
jangleryc1374
tatteringc1380
ganglinga1387
clatteringc1400
babbling?c1430
languetingc1450
pratinga1470
cackling1530
prattling1530
tattling1547
gaggling1548
clicketing1575
twattling1577
clacking1594
gabbling1599
blattering1604
snuttering1693
futileness1727
rattling1753
gabbering1798
magginga1800
yaffing1815
deblateration1817
tattlement1837
nattering1859
spieling1859
yattering1859
chatteration1862
quiddling1870
windjamming1886
waffling1958
motormouthing1981
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [noun] > performing
performance?1611
rendition1851
spieling1859
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > gaming
playc1300
gaming1501
gamestry1605
chancing1652
gambling1700
spieling1859
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 84 Speiling, gambling.
1898 A. M. Binstead Pink 'Un & Pelican ix. 190 A raid upon a ‘spieling’ club by the police.
1904 ‘O. Henry’ in McClure's Mag. July 353/2 It was just what Buck wanted—a regular business at a permanent stand, with no open air spieling..on the street corners every evening.
1937 G. Frankau More of Us vii. 78 Nor think this spieling shames our British blood.
1959 T. H. White Godstone & Blackymor 47 There was no patter now, no fair ground spieling.
1981 Observer 9 Aug. 3/2 ‘Pitching’, or spieling, is how traders sell by a kind of inverted auction: prices start out sky-high, and buyers leap into the breach as the pitcher brings them tumbling down.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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