Meaning

4 senses

  1. A spigot or plug used to stop the hole in a barrel or cask.

    a plug used to close a hole in a barrel or flask

  2. (US)A spout inserted in a maple (or other tree) to draw off sap.

  3. A pile; a post or girder.

  4. (Cumbria, dialectal, obsolete)A splinter.

Origin

From Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile (“splinter, peg”), ultimately from Proto-Germ

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.

Alteration of pile, after Etymology 1, above.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: spiles
Singularspile
Pluralspiles

regular

Synonyms

4 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • a plug used to close a hole in a barrel or flask:bung
  • a column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure:pilepilingstilt

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
spigotspikespikyspillA2spillagespinB2

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

spile — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto