Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To strain, as milk; pass through a strainer or anything similar; filter.
  • To flow down; drop; fall; sink.
  • To settle down; compose or calm one's self.
  • To pass; go.
  • To boil gently; simmer.
  • noun Same as sill.
  • noun A sieve.
  • noun A strainer or colander for liquids.
  • noun That which is sifted or strained; hence, settlings; sediment; filth.
  • noun A dialectal variant of soil.
  • noun A young herring.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb Prov. Eng. To strain, as fresh milk.
  • intransitive verb Prov. Eng. To drop; to flow; to fall.
  • noun Prov. Eng. A sieve with fine meshes.
  • noun Prov. Eng. Filth; sediment.
  • noun (Zoöl.), engraving A young or small herring.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A column; pillar.
  • noun A beam; rafter; one of the principal rafters of a building.
  • noun The foot or lower part of a couple or rafter.
  • noun A roof rafter or couple, usually one of a pair.
  • noun A young herring.
  • verb transitive To strain, as milk; pass through a strainer or anything similar; filter.
  • verb intransitive To flow down; drip; drop; fall; sink.
  • verb intransitive To settle down; calm or compose oneself.
  • verb intransitive To go; pass.
  • verb intransitive To boil gently; simmer.
  • verb intransitive, Northern England To pour with rain.
  • noun A sieve.
  • noun A strainer or colander for liquids;
  • noun That which is sifted or strained, hence, settlings; sediment; filth.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English syle, from Old English sȳl ("column, pillar, support"), from Proto-Germanic *sūliz (“beam, post, column, pillar”), Proto-Indo-European *ḱsewl-, *ḱswel- (“log”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱsew-, *ḱes- (“to scratch, comb”). Cognate with Dutch zuil ("pillar"), German Säule ("column, pillar"), Norwegian sul ("pillar"), Icelandic súla ("column"), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐍃 (sauls, "pillar").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English *sile, from Old Norse síl ("a kind of herring"), from Proto-Germanic *sīlan, *sīlō (“herring”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Icelandic síld ("herring"), Norwegian and Danish sild ("herring"), Swedish dialectal sil ("young fish, fry").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English silen, sylen, from Middle Low German silen ("to let off water, filter, strain"; > Low German silen, sielen), equivalent to sie +‎ -le. Cognate with German sielen ("let off water, filter"), Swedish sila ("to strain, filter, sift"), German Siel ("drain, sewer, sluice").

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Examples

  • The mis'sile's hunter-pilot circuits were not intelligent enough to foresee that and change course while there was still time.

    Three Worlds To Conquer Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1964

  • Developerzy Nokii chyba zrozumieli, że obecnie o sile systemu decyduje ilość i różnorodność aplikacji dla niego dostępnych i postanowili rozejrzeć się po rynku aby uatrakcyjnić swoją ofertę.

    Ovi Developers’ Challenge - konkurs dla pomysłowych GregKoval 2010

  • Developerzy Nokii chyba zrozumieli, że obecnie o sile systemu decyduje ilość i różnorodność aplikacji dla niego dostępnych i postanowili rozejrzeć się po rynku aby uatrakcyjnić swoją ofertę.

    Ovi Developers’ Challenge - konkurs dla pomysłowych GregKoval 2010

  • And it was a message that was a heat-seeking mis- sile aimed at otherwise clear-thinking individuals who come from the most coddled, overprotected, information-drenched generation in American history.

    OBAMA ZOMBIES Jason Mattera 2010

  • And it was a message that was a heat-seeking mis- sile aimed at otherwise clear-thinking individuals who come from the most coddled, overprotected, information-drenched generation in American history.

    OBAMA ZOMBIES Jason Mattera 2010

  • Being also easily amused, I think of this action as playing the sile-phone.

    Word Fugitives 2008

  • May 3, 2010 at 3:05 am lettus nao paws fur a momint ob sile ins.

    2 kapchur da cheezburger - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2010

  • Being also easily amused, I think of this action as playing the sile-phone.

    Word Fugitives 2008

  • These movies of Saturn and its satellites are sile ...

    Photo of the Day: Candles in a Reflective Mood Edward Willett 2006

  • These movies of Saturn and its satellites are sile ...

    Archive 2006-06-18 Edward Willett 2006

Comments

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  • de-mist-tify

    December 2, 2008

  • (verb) - (1) In some old cookery books we are told to "soil milk before using it." This, at first sight, appears to be a curious direction. If, however, we use the correct modern orthography of the first word, we shall find that we are able to sile it--that is, to pass it through a fine sile, or sieve, in order that it shall be freed from hairs or other impurities. --Eliezer Edwards' Words, Facts, and Phrases, 1882 (2) To soil milk, to cleanse it. --John Ray's North Country Words, 1674 (3) To pour. He siled a gallon of ale down his throat. --Francis Grose's Provincial Glossary, 1787

    January 27, 2018