Definition of "spall" []

• A chip, fragment, or flake from a piece of stone or ore. (noun)
• To break up into chips or fragments. (verb-transitive)
• To chip or crumble. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term "spall" refers to large flakes, large flake fragments, and chunks."
• "Commission engineers believe water seeping through joints on top of the bridge is causing the concrete along the bottom of the edge of the deck slabs to "spall," or weaken and flake,"
• "The bright-hammered melody of the flat-crank 4.5-liter V8, the fiery spall of the overrun note, the tach-rapping flexibility of the 9,000-rpm engine as you gear-bang the seven-speed dual clutch tranny—all of that is at a slight remove in the fixed-roof car."