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spiling

[spahy-ling]
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noun
  1. a group or mass of piles; spiles.
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Origin of spiling

First recorded in 1835–45; spile1 + -ing1

spile1

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

Examples from the Web for spiling

Historical Examples

  • Then he took a few turns with the other end about a spiling, and held hard.

    Jack Harvey's Adventures

    Ruel Perley Smith

  • I rushed forrard, and raised her to my arms: spiling thereby a new weskit and a pair of crimson smalcloes.

    Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush

    William Makepeace Thackeray

  • "'Pears like as if we were spiling the Egyptians," said an old man who had gathered an immense pile of blankets and coats.

    The Boys of '61

    Charles Carleton Coffin.

  • With a bound, Willy Horse cleared the spiling and leaped to the river bed to finish his victim.

  • The ship passed between the long rows of spiling with nice judgment.

British Dictionary definitions for spiling

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
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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
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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 spiling

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).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper