spill the beans
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bean
(bēn)n.
1.
a. Any of various twining herbs of the genus Phaseolus in the pea family, native to the Americas, having leaves with three leaflets and variously colored flowers, and widely cultivated for their edible pods and seeds.
b. A seed or pod of any of these plants.
2. Any of several related plants or their seeds or pods, such as the adzuki bean, broad bean, or soybean.
3. Any of various other plants or their seeds or fruits, especially those suggestive of beans such as the coffee bean or vanilla bean.
4. Slang A person's head.
5. beans Slang A small amount: I don't know beans about investing.
6. Chiefly British A fellow; a chap.
tr.v. beaned, bean·ing, beans Slang
Idioms: To hit (another) on the head with a thrown object, especially a pitched baseball.
full of beans
1. Energetic; frisky: The children were too full of beans to sit still.
2. Badly mistaken: Don't believe him; he's full of beans.
spill the beans
To disclose a secret.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
spill the beans
To let out a secret; from a method of voting in secret societies in ancient Greece using white or black beans. To upset the container and let everyone see how many black beans (negative votes) it contained would be potentially embarrassing.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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| Verb | 1. |  spill the beans - divulge confidential information or secrets; "Be careful--his secretary talks"disclose, let on, divulge, expose, give away, let out, reveal, unwrap, discover, bring out, break - make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; "The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold"; "The actress won't reveal how old she is"; "bring out the truth"; "he broke the news to her"; "unwrap the evidence in the murder case" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
يَكْشِف السِّر
všechno vyzradit
kikotyog
leysa frá skjóîunni
všetko prezradiť
sır açıklamakyumurtlamak
spill
(spil) verb – past tense, past participle spilt (-t) , spilled – to (cause something to) fall or run out (usually accidentally). He spilt milk on the floor; Vegetables spilled out of the burst bag.
spill the beans to give away a secret. By Monday it was evident that someone had spilled the beans to the newspapers.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.