spile
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile (“splinter, peg”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *spīlaz (“splinter, peg”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“prickle, pointed stick”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian spyl, German Speil (“chip, splinter, gore, wedge”), Danish spile, Dutch spijl.
Noun[edit]
spile (plural spiles)
- (obsolete or dialectal) A splinter.
- A spigot or plug used to stop the hole in a barrel or cask.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:
- So I felt my way down the passage back to the vault, and recked not of the darkness, nor of Blackbeard and his crew, if only I could lay my lips to liquor. Thus I groped about the barrels till near the top of the stack my hand struck on the spile of a keg, and drawing it, I got my mouth to the hold.
- (US) A spout inserted in a maple (or other tree) to draw off sap.
Verb[edit]
spile (third-person singular simple present spiles, present participle spiling, simple past and past participle spiled)
- To plug (a hole) with a spile.
- To draw off (a liquid) using a spile.
- To provide (a barrel, tree etc.) with a spile.
Etymology 2[edit]
Alteration of pile, after Etymology 1, above.
Noun[edit]
spile (plural spiles)
- A pile; a post or girder.
- 1873, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Palmetto-Leaves:
- The bottom of the river is of hard, sparkling white sand, into which spiles are easily driven; and the building and keeping up of such a wharf is a trifling trouble...
- 1975, Catherine Aird, Slight Mourning[1]:
- […] we'd settled that I’d pick up some spiles from Greg Fitch first thing on Monday morning and get something done about that fence.
Verb[edit]
spile (third-person singular simple present spiles, present participle spiling, simple past and past participle spiled)
- (transitive) To support by means of spiles.
- (transitive) To drive piles into.
Etymology 3[edit]
Alteration of spoil.
Verb[edit]
spile (third-person singular simple present spiles, present participle spiling, simple past and past participle spiled)
- (US, dialect, transitive, intransitive) spoil.
Anagrams[edit]
Danish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Verb[edit]
spile (imperative spil, infinitive at spile, present tense spiler, past tense spilede, perfect tense har spilet)
- To dilate.
Middle English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From spilen. Alternatively from an Old English *spil, from Proto-West Germanic *spil.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
spile
References[edit]
- “spī̆le, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-20.
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