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[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC:
- 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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