To put or convert plant material into a silo or convert it into silage for animal feed.
From 'en-' (to cause to be or enter) plus 'silo,' with silo itself coming from Spanish 'silo' and Greek 'siros' (underground pit). The verb form developed in the 19th century with modern silage technology.
The verb 'ensile' appears in farming textbooks dating back to the 1880s, marking the moment when silos became common enough that English needed a specific word for the action of filling them.
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