Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

spile1

[spahyl]
See more synonyms for spile on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a peg or plug of wood, especially one used as a spigot.
  2. a spout for conducting sap from the sugar maple.
  3. a heavy wooden stake or pile.
  4. Mining. forepole.
Show More
verb (used with object), spiled, spil·ing.
  1. to stop up (a hole) with a spile or peg.
  2. to furnish with a spigot or spout, as for drawing off a liquid.
  3. to tap by means of a spile.
  4. to furnish, strengthen, or support with spiles or piles.
Show More

Origin of spile1

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

spile2

[spahyl]Dialect
verb (used with or without object), spiled, spil·ing, noun
  1. spoil.
Show More
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for spile

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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.

British Dictionary definitions for spile

spile

noun
  1. a heavy timber stake or pile
  2. US and Canadian a spout for tapping sap from the sugar maple tree
  3. a plug or spigot
Show More
verb (tr)
  1. to provide or support with a spile
  2. US to tap (a tree) with a spile
  3. Northern English dialect a splinter
Show More

Word Origin

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

n.

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).

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper