Spiles

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A vertical or inclined pole used to support or hold something in place; a type of spout inserted into a tree for tapping sap; or a thin, tubular device for transferring liquid from one container to another
2. A support structure that can hold various items; a device for drawing sap from trees like maple; or a slender tube utilized in fluid transfer applications
3. A post that stabilizes or supports structures; an implement for extracting tree sap; or a narrow pipe for moving liquids between sources and destinations

Etymology: Spiles is the plural of "spile," and the trail starts with a splinter. The noun comes from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German "spile," meaning a splinter or peg, which descends from a Proto-Germanic word for the same thing and ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning a prickle or pointed stick. Close relatives survive in modern German "Speil," meaning a chip or wedge, and in Dutch "spijl" and Danish "spile," which keep the sense of a thin rod or bar. The tap sense, a wooden peg driven into a hole in a cask or into a maple tree to let liquid out, follows naturally from that pointed stick. The sense of a narrow pipe carrying liquid grew out of the same idea of a small, slender piece of wood or metal set into an opening. Spile has also been influenced by two other words. One form arose as an alteration of "pile," a post driven into the ground to support a structure, and the other as an alteration of "spoil."