screw pile

noun

1. a pile that is used for the foundations of bridges, lighthouses, etc., and has a screwlike lower end for drilling through and taking firm hold in compacted material.

screw pile

noun

1. a pile with a threaded tip that is screwed into the ground by a winch or capstan

Other Words From

• screw piling noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of screw pile¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

At that time a new lighthouse of the screw pile type was built two and one-half miles offshore from Smith Point.

From Project Gutenberg

The idea of the screw pile was that it should easily enter the ground and push aside any obstruction in its descent without much disturbance of the soil, with the ultimate object of obtaining, by reason of the screw blade, a strong resistance to upward and downward strain.

From Project Gutenberg

In sand, and when the water power can be easily obtained, I prefer disc piles to screw piles, because there is hardly any chance of breaking or injuring the disc; you always know where the disc is, but cannot positively say where the screw is‌—‌it may be sound and may not be; in addition, the disc is stronger than a screw blade, as it can be strengthened by ribs almost as much as one likes, and the disc in sinking is hardly strained at all compared with a screw pile.

From Project Gutenberg

The mooring chains, weighing 22 lb per ft., are taken from the upstream end of each pontoon to a downstream screw pile mooring and from the downstream end to an upstream screw pile.

From Project Gutenberg

But a spacious and sheltered harbour is now being provided, by means of piers running out from the shore five hundred yards north and south respectively of the screw pile pier now existing, so as to enclose a rectangular area of one thousand yards in length by eight hundred and thirty yards in width, or one hundred and seventy acres. 

From Project Gutenberg