spile
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /spaɪl/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪl
Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile (“splinter, peg”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *spīlaz (“splinter, peg”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“prickle, pointed stick”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian spyl, German Speil (“chip, splinter, gore, wedge”), Danish spile, Dutch spijl.
Noun
[edit]spile (plural spiles)
- (obsolete or dialectal, Cumbria, Lancashire) A splinter.
- A spigot or plug used to stop the hole in a barrel or cask.
- [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
- So I felt my way down the passage back to the vault, and recked not of the darkness, nor of Blackbeard and his crew, if only I could lay my lips to liquor. Thus I groped about the barrels till near the top of the stack my hand struck on the spile of a keg, and drawing it, I got my mouth to the hold.
- (US) A spout inserted in a maple (or other tree) to draw off sap.
- 2023, Ray Mears, chapter 2, in British Woodland, Ebury Spotlight, →ISBN:
- Now, chamfering one end of the elderberry tube slightly to fit, I push it into the hole and wait. After a few seconds sap will begin to drip from the end of the tube, a tangible flow of life and vitality. […] Beneath the tube, properly called a spile, I place my cup to catch the drips.
Verb
[edit]spile (third-person singular simple present spiles, present participle spiling, simple past and past participle spiled)
- To plug (a hole) with a spile.
- To draw off (a liquid) using a spile.
- To provide (a barrel, tree etc.) with a spile.
Etymology 2
[edit]Alteration of pile, after Etymology 1, above.
Noun
[edit]spile (plural spiles)
- A pile; a post or girder.
- 1873, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Palmetto-Leaves:
- The bottom of the river is of hard, sparkling white sand, into which spiles are easily driven; and the building and keeping up of such a wharf is a trifling trouble...
- 1975, Catherine Aird, Slight Mourning[1]:
- […] we'd settled that I’d pick up some spiles from Greg Fitch first thing on Monday morning and get something done about that fence.
Verb
[edit]spile (third-person singular simple present spiles, present participle spiling, simple past and past participle spiled)
- (transitive) To support by means of spiles.
- (transitive) To drive piles into.
Etymology 3
[edit]Alteration of spoil.
Verb
[edit]spile (third-person singular simple present spiles, present participle spiling, simple past and past participle spiled)
- (US, dialect, transitive, intransitive) spoil.
Anagrams
[edit]Danish
[edit]Etymology
[edit](This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Verb
[edit]spile (imperative spil, infinitive at spile, present tense spiler, past tense spilede, perfect tense har spilet)
- To dilate.
Middle English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From spilen. Alternatively from an Old English *spil, from Proto-West Germanic *spil.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]spile
References
[edit]- “spī̆le, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-20.
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