pile
nounEtymology
From French pile (“battery”), with the pronunciation adapted to the existing English word pile. Doublet of Etymology 1, which may have influenced the sense development by emphasizing the stack (“pile”) out of which early batteries were made.
Definitions
A mass of things heaped together
A mass of things heaped together; a heap.
- I climbed through, and, standing on a pile of stones, lifted and dragged Cleopatra after me.
A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of…
A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.
- When we were looking for a new housemate, we put the nice woman on the "maybe" pile, and the annoying guy on the "no" pile
A mass formed in layers.
- a pile of shot
›+ 26 more definitionsshow fewer
A funeral pile
A funeral pile; a pyre.
- Jove with a Nod, comply'd with her Deſire; / Around the Body flam'd the Funeral Fire; / The Pile decreas'd that lately ſeem'd ſo high, / And Sheets of Smoak roll'd upward to the Sky: [...]
A large amount of money.
- He made a pile from that invention of his.
- When they are at work they live most frugally, denying themselves every comfort and luxury till they have made a "pile."
A large building, or mass of buildings.
- The pile is of a gloomy and massive, rather than of an elegant, style of Gothic architecture; […]
- The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight.
- It was dark when the four-wheeled cab wherein he had brought Avice from the station stood at the entrance to the pile of flats of which Pierston occupied one floor[…]
A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling…
A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot.
A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals (especially copper and…
A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals (especially copper and zinc), laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; a voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.
- The word "pile" is used specifically to mean the column of superposed electrodes, such as that of Volta or Zamboni.
A beam, pole, or pillar, driven completely into the ground, usually as one of a group…
A beam, pole, or pillar, driven completely into the ground, usually as one of a group that constitutes a foundation.
An atomic pile
An atomic pile; an early form of nuclear reactor.
The reverse (or tails) of a coin.
A list or league
- And the moment it thumped into the net, Celtic’s march back to the top of the SPL pile also seemed unstoppable.
- Watch Harlequins train and you get some idea of why they are back on top of the pile going into Saturday's rerun of last season's grand final against Leicester.
To lay or throw into a pile or heap
To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate
- They were piling up wood on the wheelbarrow.
To cover with heaps
To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.
- We piled the camel with our loads.
To add something to a great number.
- But as the second half wore on, Sunderland piled forward at every opportunity and their relentless pressure looked certain to be rewarded in the closing stages.
(of vehicles) To create a hold-up.
To place (guns, muskets, etc.) together in threes so that they can stand upright,…
To place (guns, muskets, etc.) together in threes so that they can stand upright, supporting each other.
To form a pile or heap.
- Junk piled on the floor as we searched the attic for the old photograph albums.
- I darted from room to room as the see-through bagless dustbin piled high with shocking amounts of icky-poo.
A dart
A dart; an arrow.
The head of an arrow or spear.
A large stake, or piece of pointed timber, steel etc., driven into the earth or sea-bed…
A large stake, or piece of pointed timber, steel etc., driven into the earth or sea-bed for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc.
One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed…
One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.
To drive piles into
To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.
A hemorrhoid.
Hair, especially when very fine or short
Hair, especially when very fine or short; the fine underfur of certain animals. (Formerly countable, now treated as a collective singular.)
The raised hairs, loops or strands of a fabric
The raised hairs, loops or strands of a fabric; the nap of a cloth.
- Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile.
To give a pile to
To give a pile to; to make shaggy.
A battery (simple device for converting chemical potential energy into usable…
A battery (simple device for converting chemical potential energy into usable electricity).
A surname.
The neighborhood
- synonympile up
Derived
atomic pile, at the bottom of the pile, at the top of the pile, biopile, book piles, Bunsen pile, cross and pile, death pile, dogpile, dustpile, facepile, funeral pile, gangpile, go the whole pile, helical pile, hook-and-pile fastener, junkpile, leafpile, make a pile, micropile, mispile, monopile, muscular pile, nuclear pile, overpile, pig pile, piledrive, piledriver, pile-driving, pileless, pilement, pile of crap, pile of cunt, pile of poo, pile of shit, piler, pile shoe, pilewise, pilework, pileworm · +44 more
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at pile. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at pile. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
7 hops · closes at pile
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA