forspill

Etymology

From Middle English forspillen, from Old English forspillan, forspildan (“to waste, lose, disperse, bring to nothing, destroy, ruin, kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *furispilþijan. Equivalent to for- + spill. Cognate with Old High German farspildan, Dutch verspillen (“to waste”), Swedish förspilla (“to waste”).

forspill means to destroy; ruin; lose. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why this word is great

FORSPILL — [Verb] To destroy, ruin, or waste something utterly. From Middle English forspillen, from Old English forspillan, forspildan ("to waste, lose, destroy"), from Proto-West Germanic *furispilþijan, equivalent to the intensive prefix for- + spill ("to destroy, waste"). Unlike "ruin," which implies a state of decayed grandeur, or "squander," which suggests careless expenditure, to forspill is a willful, thorough obliteration. It is the salt sown into the furrows of a conquered city, the vellum manuscript scraped clean for a mundane ledger, or the clear-cutting of an ancient grove for spite—the small, sure violence of making a wasteland where a garden could have been.

verb

To destroy; ruin; lose.“In fine, all these treasures, like snow on the wold, Three days lain, then to nothing forspilled, suppose.”