I put a spell on you...

[venta]

Gosh. It's ages since we've had one of these. Words I use which no one else knows...

[Poll #1724258]

A perfectly respectable definition can be found here.

[Poll #1724259]

Edit: supplementary question. If it didn't mean what you thought, what did you think it meant?

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I think it's related to 'spillikins', which is a splendid word.

[hoiho.livejournal.com]

Round these parts that's called a "skelf".

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

We called 'em 'spells'.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I guessed right, though context helps lots. Was guessing would be cognate with Yiddish shpilke "pin". I assume this is so.

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

Well known in Galloway.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

"Do you have a spelk in your finger?"

I guessed correctly from this, but was secretly hoping it would turn out to mean "miniature laser blaster".

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

It turns out I could guess, despite my claim to the contrary.

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

The word suggested something that was pointy but dull, so a splinter was my first thought, with a sort of pain a second.

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

Odd, I think of this word as one I encountered in America first, rather than Newcastle.

[metame.livejournal.com]

supplementary question. If it didn't mean what you thought, what did you think it meant?

An Elven Spork. Clearly.

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

I had a moment of confusing it with spelt (as in wheat, grains type context). The context made it a lot clearer.