spile

[spahyl]

See more synonyms for spile on Thesaurus.com

noun

a peg or plug of wood, especially one used as a spigot.
a spout for conducting sap from the sugar maple.
a heavy wooden stake or pile.

Mining. forepole.

verb (used with object), spiled, spil·ing.

to stop up (a hole) with a spile or peg.
to furnish with a spigot or spout, as for drawing off a liquid.
to tap by means of a spile.
to furnish, strengthen, or support with spiles or piles.

Origin of spile

1505–15; < Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile splinter, peg; cognate with German Speil

spile

[spahyl]Dialect

verb (used with or without object), spiled, spil·ing, noun

spoil.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for spile

nozzle, valve, plug, vent, stopper, tap, spout, outlet, spile, stopple

Examples from the Web for spile

Historical Examples of spile

Wasn't the children of Israel commanded to spile the Egyptians?
Old Man Curry
Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan
Then, after thought: "But you got to go some to spile bad eggs."
Old Man Curry
Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan
"I don't want to spile your evening," he says, very perlite.
Sailor's Knots (Entire Collection)
W.W. Jacobs
Hit him somewheres in the hand; spile his dealin' fo' a while.
Rimrock Trail
J. Allan Dunn
You just use as many on 'em as you've a mind; and all you spile I'll fetch you again from hum.
The Wide, Wide World
Susan Warner

British Dictionary definitions for spile

spile

noun

a heavy timber stake or pile
US and Canadian a spout for tapping sap from the sugar maple tree
a plug or spigot

verb (tr)

to provide or support with a spile
US to tap (a tree) with a spile
Northern English dialect a splinter

Word Origin for spile

C16: probably from Middle Dutch spile peg; related to Icelandic spila skewer, Latin spīna thorn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for spile

tap or spout for drawing maple sugar, 1844, from Northern English dialect spile "splinter" (1510s), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile "splinter, skewer, bar, spindle," perhaps related to spike (n.1).