spile
1 Americannoun
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a peg or plug of wood, especially one used as a spigot.
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a spout for conducting sap from the sugar maple.
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a heavy wooden stake or pile.
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Mining. forepole.
verb (used with object)
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to stop up (a hole) with a spile or peg.
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to furnish with a spigot or spout, as for drawing off a liquid.
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to tap by means of a spile.
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to furnish, strengthen, or support with spiles or piles.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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a heavy timber stake or pile
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a spout for tapping sap from the sugar maple tree
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a plug or spigot
verb
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to provide or support with a spile
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to tap (a tree) with a spile
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dialect a splinter
Etymology
Origin of spile
1505–15; < Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile splinter, peg; cognate with German Speil
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I drop the spile, forget where I am or what lies ahead, only know I must reach her, protect her.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Finnick and I stand with our weapons poised while he works the spile in, but no threat appears.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Then I think of the spile and wrest it from the tree trunk.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
He and Finnick take turns opening up the hole with the awl and the knives until it can hold the spile.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
By wiggling and adjusting the spile, we get a thin stream running out.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Many tech stocks were having a rough start after Broadcom’s fiscal second-quarter report sparked a 15.5% decline in the stock—and spiled across the sector.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
It wuz a shame to hev sech a good match spiled.
From David Dunne A Romance of the Middle West by Maniates, Belle Kanaris
“Hit means a she-bear, shore as a cap-shootin’ gun; but you’ve done spiled it all by tellin’.
From Our Southern Highlanders by Kephart, Horace
But Caswell was an old Crimea veteran; his face had been spiled by a powder explosion; but he certainly was a sporter!
From Two on the Trail A Story of the Far Northwest by Potts, William Sherman
"I hope they ain't spiled the child," she said.
From Rimrock Trail by Dunn, J. Allan, (Joseph Allan)
And there’s many a lady that she never would have seen a cent, let alone making herself pay for the spiling of it.”
From At Fault by Chopin, Kate
I rushed forrard, and raised her to my arms: spiling thereby a new weskit and a pair of crimson smalcloes.
From The Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush by Thackeray, William Makepeace
Down below two dark forms, covered with mud and flour paste, could be seen clutching at the slippery braces of the spiling.
From Young Hunters of the Lake by Bonehill, Ralph
The ship passed between the long rows of spiling with nice judgment.
From The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by O'Brien, Edward J. (Edward Joseph Harrington)
Now get out of here–the both of you: you’re spiling trade.
From In the Heart of a Fool by White, William Allen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
