spell n also spill*. Cp ADD ~ n 3 for sense 1 (a); DC 2 (1869-), Dict Aust Colloq (1845-), cp EDD sb3 1 So for sense 2.
1 (a) A short distance, esp that between the resting places of a man with a heavy burden on his back; cp SPELL V, SHOULDER ~ ; (b) the burden itself so carried; BACK1: ~ LOAD, TURN n.
1863 MORETON 30 Short distances are in common speech measured by spells. 1896 J A Folklore ix, 25 ~ It is also applied to distance. 1931 Nfld Magazine 24 I went towards the river (i.e. Rennie's River) and crossing it went out a spell on the bridle path leading to Portugal Cove. T 172/5-65 That time you could go up and you could cut firewood probably half a spell, some places. Half a spell would be half the distance you could carry [the wood] without havin' a spell. P 54-67 ~ a back-load (of wood, etc). P 245-79 Go bring a spell of water from the well.
2 A period of time when people cease to work, travel, etc, in order to rest; a blow. Freq in phr take a spell.
1863 MORETON 30 A 'spell' is ... a time of rest. 1907 MILLAIS 234 When packing, the usual plan is to walk in line steadily for half-an-hour, and then to take a short rest. During one of these 'spells,' as they are called, Martin again made an excellent 'spy,' noticing the head of a stag. 1920 GRENFELL & SPALDING 41 I have the greatest admiration for the women of this coast. They work like dogs from morning till nightfall, summer and winter, with 'Ne'er a spell,' as one of them told me quite cheerfully. 1937 DEVINE 47 ~ A rest, taken during work or from carrying a load. 'To take a spell.' 1953 JOB 38 Robert Job was instrumental in abolishing the old custom of keeping 'Rum on Tap' at the mercantile wharves in St John's, which had resulted in very frequent 'mug-ups' of that locally popular liquor, while, in the local vernacular, the labourers took 'another spell.' T 49-64 He says, 'We better have a spell now before we hauls out the trap.' I said, 'No, we won't. If I goes now an' lies down anywhere,' I says, 'you won't get me no more.' T 411/13-67 And there might be so much as what we call a dozen spells. A spell would be a time when the corpse would be rested on the ground, an' the coffin of course, and somebody else from the congregation would assist in bringing the corpse another hundred or so feet. 1975 Evening Telegram 28 June, p. 16 God be with the old days when fellas our age could lean on a gump and take a spell.
