spall

noun

1. (countable)A splinter, fragment or chip, especially of stone.

   “My father knew Bert Le Feuvre, the foreman of Griffith's yard, and there was a little heap of spawls waiting ready every night in summer after school for me to crack.”

2. (uncountable)A process of weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.

   “The failure of this bearing involved spall under high load.”

   “The inspection of this bridge abutment found extensive spall.”

3. (obsolete, rare)The shoulder.

   “Their mightie ſtrokes their haberieons diſmayld, / And naked made each others manly ſpalles; […]”

verb

1. (ambitransitive)To break into fragments or small pieces.

   “Cobbed Ore is the ſpalled which is broke out of the ſolid large ſtones with ſledges”

   “Drones will give an idea of the worst bits, but if it's lightly spalled then I don't know if they will necessarily see that.”

2. (especially)To undergo weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.

   “When the bearing race spalled under high load, it led to the failure of the bearing.”

   “Once the concrete had spalled extensively, the bridge could no longer pass an honest inspection.”

   “I know it’s fun to go to a foreign city, look around at the buildings, and make grand sweeping judgements about the relative strength of civilizations over the next thousand years. But next time you find yourself gaping at a sparkling new high-rise in Shenzhen or Chongqing or Dubai, remind yourself: “This too shall spall.””

3. (transitive)To reduce, as irregular blocks of stone, to an approximately level surface by hammering.

name

1. A surname.