spall

Meanings

1. A splinter, fragment or chip, especially of stone.
2. A process of weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.

1. To break into fragments or small pieces.
2. To undergo weathering, aging, or other wear that involves the crumbling of the substrate.
3. To reduce, as irregular blocks of stone, to an approximately level surface by hammering.

1. The shoulder.

1. A surname.

Etymology

From Middle English spalle (“a chip”) (first documented in 1440), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from the Middle English verb spald (“to split”) (c.1400), from Middle Low German spalden, cognate with Old High German spaltan (“to split”).