PIL, or Pyll. A creek subject to the tide.
PILCHARD. The Clupea pilchardus, a fish allied to the herring, which appears in vast shoals off the Cornish coast about July.
PILE. A pyramid of shot or shell.—To pile arms, is to plant three fire-locks together, and unite the ramrods, to steady the outspread butt-ends of the pieces resting on the ground. A pile is also a beam of wood driven into the ground to form by a number a solid foundation for building upon. A sheeting-pile has more breadth than thickness, and is much used in constructing coffer-dams.
PILE-DRIVER. A machine adapted for driving piles. Also, applied to a ship given to pitch heavily in a sea-way.
PILGER. An east-country term for a fish-spear.
PILING ICE. In Arctic parlance, where from pressure the ice is raised, slab over slab, into a high mass, which consolidates, and is often mistaken for a berg.
PILL. (See [Pil].) A term on the western coast for a draining rivulet, as well as the creek into which it falls.
PILLAGE. Wanton and mostly iniquitous plunder. But an allowed ancient practice, both in this and other countries, as shown by the sea ordinances of France, and our black book of the admiralty.
PILLAN. A northern coast name for the shear-crab.
PILLAR OF THE HOLD. A main stanchion with notches for descent.