O.Henry describes a masked gunman robbing the local J.P. of a new $5 bill, and ordering him to roll it into a "spill"
and stick it into the muzzle of the rifle. I cannot find any definition of spill that fits. I wonder if "spill" was once slang name for a drinking straw.

Something reminded me of the word "spile"
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Spile \Spile\, n. [Cf. LG. spile, dial. G. speil, speiler, D.
spijl. [root]170.]
1. A small plug or wooden pin, used to stop a vent, as in a
cask.
Spile \Spile\, v. t.
To supply with a spile or a spigot; to make a small vent in,
as a cask.

Maybe O.Henry knew a dialectical variation of "spile"
written "spill". Any comments?

At first I thought I'd found it in Partridge: "A small fee, gift, or reward of money." But then the OED: "A thin slip of wood, folded or twisted piece of paper, used for lighting a candle or a pipe."

Dear jheem: Nice work. But since O.Henry never saw the
OED, he must have learned it from some colloquial source
not know to American lexicographers.

Yes, indeed, just 'cause a words in or not in a dictionary doesn't necessarily mean squat.

That's true, nuncle.

But this is quite interesting - it'd be a fairly common idiom over this side of the pond; is it really not generally understood in this meaning stateside?

stateside
never heard it. but it made me think of spliff once I knew the deffy.

i know spill.. --a scrap of paper rolled into a 'stem' and used to light a stove burner, or a cigarette, or a firecracker..or any old thing..

(maybe because my parent are both from ireland, and they used it?)

Of Troy, there was another definition of spill (in the OED) which I thought you might know: "a cylinder around which thread or yarn are wound, a spool." Related to spool, spindle? I've always called the thingee that thread comes on when purchased a spool, but it could be transfered to a bobbin. Ah, sewing terms. It can also mean a rod you can plug a hole with. Sounds like a dowel. (I've never heard any of these terms here on the Wrong Coast.)

mmmm, interesting word - most of the noun definitions seem to share the physical properties of it being a 'thin bit of wood or pointy thing', don't they? But then there is one definition listed from times past that is distinctive, seeming to relate to 'tip' (as in 'out of your hand') perhaps:

slang. Obs.


A small gift of money; a tip.

1675 Crowne Country Wit ii. i, Give a spill to my watch, and my Grace shall drink your health in claret. {OED2}

And then there are the classes of meanings that definitely come from the verbal spill, as in something shed...


edit:
Just found this in another entry, whcih may give the derivation of the firelighter type of spill:

2. dial. In the sense ‘spoilt’, as spill-wood.

1847 Halliwell, Spilwood, refuse of wood, or wood spilt by the sawyers. South. 1852–83 in Hampshire and Sussex glossaries.

Just an aside - the wooden spills were on sale in the UK until quite recently, maybe still are if you know where to look. They could be bought in packs and were made stained in various colours. Length about six inches and about quarter of an inch wide and maybe a millimetre thick.
My grandfather always kept a small tub of them by the fire to light his pipe – he claimed that using a petrol lighter caused you to take in a lungful of petrol fumes and matches gave you a lungful of sulphur, so the spills were the clean answer for him. The tub of spills was very easy for a child to tip over, and as a child I thought that was the reason for their name! They also made handy building materials for children to play with – you could weave them for instance. Spills seemed, in those days, to have numerous uses around the house and I do still find myself wishing for some now and again.

about quarter of an inch wide and maybe a millimetre thick

Ain' it great to be bilingual?

You give some people an inch, and they'll take a mil.

I figured that would raise a chuckle.