spile
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spaɪl/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪl
Etymology 1
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
spile (plural spiles)
- (obsolete or dialectal) A splinter.
- A spigot or plug used to stop the hole in a barrel or cask.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:
- 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.
Verb
spile (third-person singular simple present spiles, present participle spiling, simple past and past participle spiled)
Etymology 2
Alteration of pile, after Etymology 1, above.
Noun
spile (plural spiles)
Verb
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
Alteration of spoil.
Verb
spile (third-person singular simple present spiles, present participle spiling, simple past and past participle spiled)
- (US, dialect, transitive, intransitive) spoil.
Danish
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Middle English
Etymology
From spilen. Alternatively from an Old English *spil, from Proto-West Germanic *spil.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spiːl/, /spil/
References
- “spī̆le, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-20.