EN English · informal · 4 of 6
spill the beans
rueful, or accusatory
Word by word
spill · the · beans
Idiomatic sense
To reveal a secret, often a surprise, and often sooner than one meant to. The beans are the secret. Once spilled, they are out.
It is informal. It can be an accident or a failure of nerve. It is not the same job as leveling with someone about one's feelings. That is candor. This is a concealed fact getting loose.
Examples
Who spilled the beans about the party?
Who let the surprise out?
I spilled the beans before she had even sat down.
I gave the secret away before she had even sat down.
Equivalents
Marks say how far the other phrase travels with this one. How to read them.
- near
The same accident of a secret getting out. The cat phrase often stresses that something contained has escaped. The beans often stress that a person talked.
- near
die Katze aus dem Sack lassen
To let the cat out of the sack. German's close match is the cat, not a dish of beans.
- near
vendre la mèche
To sell the fuse, that is, to give the plot away. Same job.
- partial
ir de la lengua
To be loose-tongued, a habit. Spill the beans can be a single slip.
- partial
ばらす
Colloquial, to blab or expose. A verb, not a set picture. 秘密を漏らす is the plainer wording.
Notes
Spilt and spilled are both used. This book spells the headword spilled in the past, and either will search.
No origin for the beans is offered.
Sources
- Standard informal idiom. Wording is original.