different between spell vs course

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: sp?l, IPA^(key): /sp?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English spell, spel, from Old English spell (“news, story”), from Proto-Germanic *spell? (“speech, account, tale”), from Proto-Indo-European *spel- (“to tell”). Cognate with dialectal German Spill, Icelandic spjall (“discussion, talk”), spjalla (“to discuss, to talk”), guðspjall (“gospel”) and Albanian fjalë (“word”).

Noun

spell (plural spells)

1. Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: cantrip, incantation

2. A magical effect or influence induced by an incantation or formula. [from 16th c.]

   Synonym: cantrip
3. (obsolete) Speech, discourse. [8th–15th c.]

Derived terms

• byspel
• spellbind
• spellbound
• spellwork

Translations

Verb

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled)

1. To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.
   • 1647, George Buck, The History and Life and Reigne of Richard the Third, London, Book 4, p. 116,^[1]

     […] although the Kings Jealousie was thus particular to her, his Affection was as general to others […] Above all, for a time he was much speld with Elianor Talbot […]

   • 1697, John Dryden (translator), Georgics, Book 3 in The Works of Virgil, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 109, lines 444-446,^[2]

     This, gather’d in the Planetary Hour,

     With noxious Weeds, and spell’d with Words of pow’r

     Dire Stepdames in the Magick Bowl infuse;

   • 1817, John Keats, “To a Friend who sent me some Roses” in Poems, London: C. & J. Ollier, p. 83,^[3]

     But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me

     My sense with their deliciousness was spell’d:

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English spellen, from Anglo-Norman espeler, espeleir, Old French espeller, espeler (compare Modern French épeler), from Frankish *spel?n, merged with native Old English spellian (“to tell, speak”), both eventually from Proto-Germanic *spell?n? (“to speak”). Related with etymology 1. The sense “indicate a future event” probably in part a backformation from forespell (literally “to tell in advance”).

Verb

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled or (mostly UK) spelt)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To read (something) as though letter by letter; to peruse slowly or with effort. [from 14th c.]
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick:

     "He'll do," said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at his book in a mumbling tone quite audible.

2. (transitive, sometimes with “out”) To write or say the letters that form a word or part of a word. [from 16th c.]
3. (intransitive) To be able to write or say the letters that form words.

4. (transitive) Of letters: to compose (a word). [from 19th c.]
5. (transitive, figuratively, with “out”) To clarify; to explain in detail. [from 20th c.]
   • 2003, U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbel, Hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, ?ISBN:

     When we get elected, for instance, we get one of these, and we are pretty much told what is in it, and it is our responsibility to read it and understand it, and if we do not, the Ethics Committee, we can call them any time of day and ask them to spell it out for us […]

6. (transitive) To indicate that (some event) will occur. [from 19th c.]

7. To constitute; to measure.

   • the Saxon heptarchy, when seven kings put together did spell but one in effect

8. (obsolete) To speak, to declaim. [9th-16th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ii:

     O who can tell / The hidden power of herbes, and might of Magicke spell?

9. (obsolete) To tell; to relate; to teach.
   • 1770, Thomas Warton, “Ode on the Approach of Summer” in A Collection of Poems in Four Volumes, London: G. Pearch, Volume 1, p. 278,^[5]

     As thro’ the caverns dim I wind,

     Might I that legend find,

     By fairies spelt in mystic rhymes,

Derived terms

• fingerspell
• forespell
• speller
• spelling
• spello
• spell out
• spell trouble

Synonyms

• (to indicate that some event will occur): forebode; mean; signify
• (to work in place of someone else): relieve
• (to compose a word): (informal) comprise

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English spelen, from Old English spelian (“to represent, take or stand in the place of another, act as a representative of another”), akin to Middle English spale (“a rest or break”), Old English spala (“representative, substitute”).

Verb

spell (third-person singular simple present spells, present participle spelling, simple past and past participle spelled or spelt)

1. (transitive) To work in place of (someone).

   to spell the helmsman

2. (transitive) To rest (someone or something), to give someone or something a rest or break.

   They spelled the horses and rested in the shade of some trees near a brook.

3. (intransitive, colloquial) To rest from work for a time.

Derived terms

• spell off

Translations

Noun

spell (plural spells)

1. A shift (of work); (rare) a set of workers responsible for a specific turn of labour. [from 16th c.]
2. (informal) A definite period (of work or other activity). [from 18th c.]
3. (colloquial) An indefinite period of time (usually with a qualifier); by extension, a relatively short distance. [from 18th c.]
4. A period of rest; time off. [from 19th c.]
5. (colloquial, US) A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc. [from 19th c.]
6. (cricket) An uninterrupted series of alternate overs bowled by a single bowler. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

• cold spell
• dry spell
• set a spell

Descendants

• ? Welsh: sbel

Translations

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:spell.

Etymology 4

Origin uncertain; perhaps a form of speld.

Noun

spell (plural spells)

1. (dialectal) A splinter, usually of wood; a spelk.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

2. The wooden bat in the game of trap ball, or knurr and spell.

Anagrams

• Pells, pells

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sp?tl/

Noun

spell n (genitive singular spels, plural spell)

1. pity, shame
   • stór spell

     big shame

   • tað var spell

     it was a pity

   • spell var í honum

     it was too bad for him

Declension

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From the verb spelle

Noun

spell n (definite singular spellet, indefinite plural spell, definite plural spella or spellene)

1. Alternative form of spill

See also

• spel (Nynorsk)

Etymology 2

Verb

spell

1. imperative of spelle

Old English

Alternative forms

• spel

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *spell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spell/, [spe?]

Noun

spell n

1. story
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans

2. news
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans

3. prose or a work of prose
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

Declension

Antonyms

• l?oþ (“poem”)
• l?oþcræft (“poetry”)

Derived terms

• b?spell
• godspell
• spellian

Descendants

• Middle English: spell, spel
  • English: spell

References

• “spell” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kôs, IPA^(key): /k??s/
• (General American) enPR: kôrs, IPA^(key): /k???s/, /k??s/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: k?rs, IPA^(key): /ko(?)?s/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ko?s/
• (Tasmania) IPA^(key): /k??s/
• Homophone: coarse; curse (Tasmania)
• Rhymes: -??(?)s, -??(?)s (Tasmania)

Etymology 1

From Middle English cours, from Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from curr? (“run”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *?ers- (“to run”). Doublet of cursus.

Noun

course (plural courses)

1. A sequence of events.
   1. A normal or customary sequence.
   2. A programme, a chosen manner of proceeding.
   3. Any ordered process or sequence of steps.
   4. A learning programme, whether a single class or (Britain) a major area of study.
      • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond

        During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

      • 1992 August 21, Edwina Currie, Diary:

        Her course will be ‘Communication Studies with Theatre Studies’: God, how tedious, how pointless.
   5. (especially in medicine) A treatment plan.
      • 1932, Agatha Christie, The Thirteen Problems

        Miss Clark, alarmed at her increasing stoutness, was doing a course of what is popularly known as banting.

   6. A stage of a meal.

   7. The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn.

      • He appointed […] the courses of the priests.

2. A path that something or someone moves along.
   1. The itinerary of a race.

   2. A racecourse.
   3. The path taken by a flow of water; a watercourse.
   4. (sports) The trajectory of a ball, frisbee etc.
   5. (golf) A golf course.
   6. (nautical) The direction of movement of a vessel at any given moment.

   7. (navigation) The intended passage of voyage, such as a boat, ship, airplane, spaceship, etc.

3. (nautical) The lowest square sail in a fully rigged mast, often named according to the mast.

4. (in the plural, courses, obsolete, euphemistic) Menses.
5. A row or file of objects.
   1. (masonry) A row of bricks or blocks.

   2. (roofing) A row of material that forms the roofing, waterproofing or flashing system.
   3. (textiles) In weft knitting, a single row of loops connecting the loops of the preceding and following rows.
6. (music) One or more strings on some musical instruments (such as the guitar, lute or vihuela): if multiple, then closely spaced, tuned in unison or octaves and intended to played together.

Hyponyms

• bird course
• crash course
• due course
• massive open online course (MOOC)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

course (third-person singular simple present courses, present participle coursing, simple past and past participle coursed)

1. To run or flow (especially of liquids and more particularly blood).

   The oil coursed through the engine.

   Blood pumped around the human body courses throughout all its veins and arteries.

   • 2013, Martina Hyde, "Is the pope Catholic?", The Guardian, 20 September 2013[1]

     He is a South American, so perhaps revolutionary spirit courses through Francis's veins. But what, pray, does the Catholic church want with doubt?

2. (transitive) To run through or over.
3. (transitive) To pursue by tracking or estimating the course taken by one's prey; to follow or chase after.
4. (transitive) To cause to chase after or pursue game.

   to course greyhounds after deer

Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of of course

Adverb

course (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Alternative form of of course

Anagrams

• Couser, Crouse, Crusoe, cerous, coures, crouse, source

French

Etymology

From Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from curr? (“run”), with influence of Italian corsa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku?s/

Noun

course f (plural courses)

1. run, running
2. race
3. errand

Usage notes

• course is a false friend, it does not mean "course". To translate the English word course to French, use cours.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Romanian: curs?

Further reading

• “course” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• coeurs, cœurs
• coures
• écrous
• source

Norman

Etymology

From Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from curr? (“run”).

Noun

course f (plural courses)

1. (Jersey) course