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:
Peeta’s found a good vein and the water begins to gush from the spile.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Finnick goes to hammer the spile into the green bark of a massive tree with a rock, but I stop him.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Tie up the spile and the tube of medicine in the parachute and fix it to my belt with vine.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
I have the pearl, though, secured in a parachute with the spile and the medicine at my waist.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
My fingers fumble at my belt and find the spile still hanging from its vine.
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
In spite of all they've spiled, I'd be nigh $500 ahead o' the game if I could git out o' camp with what I've got in my sock.
From Si Klegg, Book 2 (of 6) Thru The Stone River Campaign And In Winter Quarters At Murfreesboro by McElroy, John
Well, see here: argyment’s my weakness, in a manner of speaking; I wouldn’t a-borne down and spiled sport not for gold untold, no, not for rum, I wouldn’t!
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XV by Stevenson, Robert Louis
“My God,” said the Bishop as he wiped away the tears on the back of his hand—“my God, but that blow has spiled God's noblest gentleman.”
From The Bishop of Cottontown A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills by Moore, John Trotwood
Oh! there's nothing else spiled or flung down the sink, jist now," said Drusa, "but something's at hand a heap worse than all.
From Pencil Sketches or, Outlines of Character and Manners by Leslie, Eliza
Then the spiling gave way under the strain that for several minutes had been put upon it, and the dam went out with a crash and a roar, accompanied by a series of terrifying explosions.
From Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders in the Great North Woods by Flower, Jessie Graham [pseud.]
Now get out of here–the both of you: you’re spiling trade.
From In the Heart of a Fool by White, William Allen
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)
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
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
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.
