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spell (n.2)[spell 词源字典]: 1620s, "a turn of work in place of another," from spell (v.2); compare Old English gespelia "a substitute." Meaning shifted toward "continuous course of work" (1706), probably via notion of shift work (as at sea) where one man or crew regularly "spelled" another. Hence "continuous stretch" of something (weather, etc.), recorded by 1728. Hence also, via the notion in give a spell (1750) "relieve another by taking a turn of work" came the sense "interval of rest or relaxation" (1845), which took the word to a sense opposite what it had at the start.[spell etymology, spell origin, 英语词源]
spell-check (v.): "to use a computer's spell checker application on a document," by 1985, from spell (v.) + check (v.1). The applications themselves date to the late 1970s. Related: Spell-checked; spell-checking.
spellbind (v.): "to bind by or as if by spell," 1808, probably a back-formation from spellbound. Related: Spellbinding; spellbinder.
spellbound (adj.): "to be bound by or as if by a spell," 1742, from spell (n.1) + bound (adj.1) "fastened," past participle of bind (v.).
speller (n.): c. 1200, "a preacher;" mid-15c. apparently in the sense "a person who reads letter by letter;" 1864 of a book to teach orthography. Agent noun from spell (v.1).
spelling (n.): mid-15c., "action of reading letter by letter," verbal noun from spell (v.1). Meaning "manner of forming words with letters" is from 1660s; meaning "a way a word has been spelled" is from 1731. Spelling bee is from 1878 (see bee; earlier spelling match, 1845; the act of winning such a schoolroom contest is described 1854 as to spell (someone) down).
spelt (n.): type of grain, Old English spelt "spelt, corn," perhaps an early borrowing from Late Latin spelta "spelt" (noted as a foreign word), which is perhaps from Germanic *spilt-, from PIE *speld-, extended form of root *spel- (1) "to split, to break off" (probably in reference to the splitting of its husks in threshing); see spill (v.).

The word had little currency in English, and its history is discontinuous. Widespread in Romanic languages (Italian spelta, Spanish espelta, Old French spelte, Modern French épeautre). The word also is widespread in Germanic (Old High German spelta, German Spelt), and a Germanic language is perhaps the source of the Late Latin word.
spelunk (n.): "a cave, cavern, a vault," c. 1300, from Old French spelonque (13c.) or directly from Latin spelunca "a cave, cavern, grotto," from Greek spelynx (accusative spelynga, genitive spelyngos) "a cave, cavern," from spelos "a cave." An adjective, speluncar "of a cave" is recorded from 1855.
spelunker (n.): "a cave bug; one who explores caves as a hobby," 1942, agent noun formed from obsolete spelunk "cave, cavern." The verb spelunk "explore caves" and the verbal noun spelunking are attested from 1946 and appear to be back-formations.
Spencer (n.): surname attested from late 13c. (earlier le Despenser, c. 1200), literally "one who dispenses or has charge of provisions in a household." Middle English spence meant "larder, pantry," and is short for Old French despense (French dépense) "expense," from despenser "to distribute" (see dispense). Another form of the word is spender, which also has become a surname.

As a type of repeating rifle used in the American Civil War, 1863, named for U.S. gunsmith Christopher Spencer, who, with Luke Wheelock, manufactured them in Boston, Mass.
Spencerian (adj.): 1863, pertaining to the penmanship system devised by American penman Platt R. Spencer, the "Father of American Writing" (1800-1864), who c. 1840 began promoting an elliptical cursive style that became the standard U.S. business hand from 1850s to early 20c. It had an assured but joyous elegance lacking in the later Palmer letters. The word also can be a reference to English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903).
spend (v.): "to pay out or away" (money or wealth), Old English -spendan (in forspendan "use up"), from Medieval Latin spendere, a shortening of Latin expendere "to weigh out money, pay down" (see expend) or possibly of dispendere "to pay out." A general Germanic borrowing (Old High German spendon, German and Middle Dutch spenden, Old Norse spenna). In reference to labor, thoughts, time, etc., attested from c. 1300. Intransitive sense "exhaust, wear (oneself) out" is from 1590s (see spent).
spending (n.): late Old English, verbal noun from spend (v.). Spending-money is from 1590s.
spendthrift (n.): c. 1600, from spend (v.) + thrift (n.) in sense of "savings, profits, wealth." Replaced earlier scattergood (1570s) and spend-all (1550s). From c. 1600 as an adjective.
Spenserian (adj.): 1817, from Edmund Spenser (c. 1552-1599), Elizabethan poet (for the origin of the surname, see Spencer). Spenserian stanza, which he employed in the "Faerie Queen," consists of eight decasyllabic lines and a final Alexandrine, with rhyme scheme ab ab bc bcc.

"The measure soon ceases to be Spenser's except in its mere anatomy of rhyme-arrangement" [Elton, "Survey of English Literature 1770-1880," 1920]; it is the meter in Butler's "Hudibras," Scott's "Lady of the Lake," and notably the "Childe Harold" of Byron, who found (quoting Beattie) that it allowed him to be "either droll or pathetic, descriptive or sentimental, tender or satirical, as the humour strikes me; for, if I mistake not, the measure which I have adopted admits equally of all these kinds of composition."
spent (adj.): "consumed," mid-15c., past participle adjective from spend. Of time, "passed, over," from 1520s; as "worn out, exhausted from overwork," 1560s.
sperate (adj.): of debts, "having some likelihood of recovery," 1550s, from Latin speratus, past participle of sperare "to hope," denominative of spes "hope," from PIE *spe-is-, from root spe- (1) "to thrive, prosper" (see speed (n.)).
sperm (n.): "male seminal fluid," late 14c., probably from Old French esperme "seed, sperm" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin sperma "seed, semen," from Greek sperma "the seed of plants, also of animals," literally "that which is sown," from speirein "to sow, scatter," from PIE *sper-mn-, from root *sper- (4) "to strew" (see sprout (v.)). Sperm bank is attested from 1963. For sperm whale see spermaceti.
spermaceti (n.): "waxy, fatty stuff in the head of certain whales," late 15c., from Medieval Latin sperma ceti "sperm of a whale" (it has when fresh something of the appearance of sperm), from Latin sperma "seed, semen" (see sperm) + ceti, genitive of cetus "whale, large sea animal" (see Cetacea). The substance in olden times was credited with medicinal properties, as well as being used for candle oil.
Use ... Sperma Cete ana with redd Wyne when ye wax old. [Sir George Ripley, "The Compound of Alchemy," 1471]
Scientists still are not sure exactly what it does. Sperm whale, short for spermaceti whale, is from 1830.
spermatic (adj.): late 14c., from Old French spermatique and directly from Late Latin spermaticus, from sperma (see sperm).