spile
/spaɪl/ noun, verb
Forms spiles spiling spiled
- noun (obsolete or dialectal, Cumbria, Lancashire) A splinter.
- noun A spigot or plug used to stop the hole in a barrel or cask.
- noun (US) A spout inserted in a maple (or other tree) to draw off sap.
- verb To plug (a hole) with a spile.
- verb To draw off (a liquid) using a spile.
- verb To provide (a barrel, tree etc.) with a spile.
- noun A pile; a post or girder.
- verb (transitive) To support by means of spiles.
- verb (transitive) To drive piles into.
- verb (US, dialect, ambitransitive) spoil.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
Alteration of pile, after Etymology 1, above.
Alteration of spoil.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small plug or wooden pin, used to stop a vent, as in a cask.
- noun A small tube or spout inserted in a tree for conducting sap, as from a sugar maple.
- verb To supply with a spile or a spigot; to make a small vent in, as a cask.
Etymology [Cf. LG. spile, dial. G. speil, speiler, D. spijl. *170.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “spile”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details