spile

[ spahyl ]

/ spaɪl /

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.

Nearby words

Origin of spile

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

spile

[ spahyl ]

/ spaɪl /

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for spile

But "rules o' the road" dump you down, chill yer sperrits, and spile all the fun.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, May 7, 1892|Various
But dints and diakkylum plaster will spile the best sport, dontcher see.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93, November 26, 1887 |Various
She was great on sketchin, and the way shed use up good paint and spile nice clean paper was a sinful waste.
Ainslee's magazine, Volume 16, No. 3, October, 1905|Various
Why will not beer run out of the tap of a cask until a spile has been driven in at the top?
The Reason Why|Anonymous

Cunnel, you'r the only decent man in the State—d——d if you haint—and your politics are a'most bad 'nuff to spile a township.
Among the Pines|James R. Gilmore

British Dictionary definitions for spile

spile

/ (spaɪl) /

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

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).