pile

1. 1

   A mass of things heaped together; a heap.collective

   • I climbed through, and, standing on a pile of stones, lifted and dragged Cleopatra after me.
   • Containerization is a long overdue step in bringing our city’s trash collection into the modern era, putting an end to the piles of garbage that have become far too common across our city.
2. 2

   A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.informal

   • 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.
3. 3

   A mass formed in layers.

   • a pile of shot
4. 4

   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: [...]
5. 5

   A large amount of money.slang

   • He made a pile from that invention of his.
6. 6

   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.
7. 7

   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.

8. 8

   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.
9. 9

   A beam, pole, or pillar, driven completely into the ground, usually as one of a group that constitutes a foundation.

10. 10

    An atomic pile; an early form of nuclear reactor.

1. 1

   To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulateoftentransitive

   • They were piling up wood on the wheelbarrow.
2. 2

   To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.transitive

   • We piled the camel with our loads.
3. 3

   To add something to a great number.transitive

   • 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.
4. 4

   (of vehicles) To create a hold-up.transitive

5. 5

   To place (guns, muskets, etc.) together in threes so that they can stand upright, supporting each other.transitive

6. 6

   To form a pile or heap.intransitive

   • Junk piled on the floor as we searched the attic for the old photograph albums.

syn. pile up

1. 1

   A dart; an arrow.obsolete

2. 2

   The head of an arrow or spear.

3. 3

   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.

   • All this time I worked very hard [...] and it is scarce credible what inexpressible labour everything was done with, especially the bringing piles out of the woods and driving them into the ground; for I made them much bigger than I needed
4. 4

   One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.

1. 1

   To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.transitive

1. 1

   A hemorrhoid.plural-normally

1. 1

   Hair, especially when very fine or short; the fine underfur of certain animals. (Formerly countable, now treated as a collective singular.)countableuncountable

2. 2

   The raised hairs, loops or strands of a fabric; the nap of a cloth.countableuncountable

   • Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile.

1. 1

   To give a pile to; to make shaggy.transitive

1. 1

   A battery (simple device for converting chemical potential energy into usable electricity).historical

2. 2

   A battery (simple device for converting chemical potential energy into usable electricity).; A battery consisting of repeated units of alternating types of metal; voltaic pile.historical