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Pile   /paɪl/   Listen
noun
Pile  n.  
1.
A hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton, and the like; also, the nap when thick or heavy, as of carpeting and velvet. "Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile."
2.
(Zool.) A covering of hair or fur.


Pile  n.  The head of an arrow or spear. (Obs.)


Pile  n.  
1.
A large stake, or piece of timber, pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc. Note: Tubular iron piles are now much used.
2.
(Her.) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.
Pile bridge, a bridge of which the roadway is supported on piles.
Pile cap, a beam resting upon and connecting the heads of piles.
Pile driver, or Pile engine, an apparatus for driving down piles, consisting usually of a high frame, with suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile.
Pile dwelling. See Lake dwelling, under Lake.
Pile plank (Hydraul. Eng.), a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling, under Piling.
Pneumatic pile. See under Pneumatic.
Screw pile, one with a screw at the lower end, and sunk by rotation aided by pressure.


Pile  n.  
1.
A mass of things heaped together; a heap; as, a pile of stones; a pile of wood.
2.
A mass formed in layers; as, a pile of shot.
3.
A funeral pile; a pyre.
4.
A large building, or mass of buildings. "The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight."
5.
(Iron Manuf.) Same as Fagot, n., 2.
6.
(Elec.) A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; commonly called Volta's pile, voltaic pile, or galvanic pile. Note: The term is sometimes applied to other forms of apparatus designed to produce a current of electricity, or as synonymous with battery; as, for instance, to an apparatus for generating a current of electricity by the action of heat, usually called a thermopile.
7.
The reverse of a coin. See Reverse.
Cross and pile. See under Cross.
Dry pile. See under Dry.


verb
Pile  v. t.  To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.
To sheet-pile, to make sheet piling in or around. See Sheet piling, under 2nd Piling.


Pile  v. t.  (past & past part. piled; pres. part. piling)  
1.
To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate; to amass; often with up; as, to pile up wood. "Hills piled on hills." "Life piled on life." "The labor of an age in piled stones."
2.
To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.
To pile arms To pile muskets (Mil.), to place three guns together so that they may stand upright, supporting each other; to stack arms.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Pile" Quotes from Famous Books



... evening I was taking a stroll down that way, when I met an empty van coming up the lane, and saw a pile of carpets and things lying about on the grass-plot beside the porch. It was clear that the cottage had at last been let. I walked past it, and wondered what sort of folk they were who had come to live so near us. And as I looked I suddenly became ...
— Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
... demanded Villefort, turning over a pile of papers, containing information relative to the prisoner, that a police agent had given to him on his entry, and that, already, in an hour's time, had swelled to voluminous proportions, thanks to the corrupt espionage of which "the accused" ...
— The Count of Monte Cristo • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... East. When a married man died, and his beloved wife aspired to the character of a saint, she burned herself publicly on the body of her husband. This was a solemn feast and was called the Funeral Pile of Widowhood, and that tribe in which most women had been ...
— Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories • Edited by Julian Hawthorne
... impatient to see how it would end. Hermann stood at the table, and prepared to play alone against the pale, but still smiling Chekalinsky. Each opened a pack of cards. Chekalinsky shuffled. Hermann took a card and covered it with a pile of bank-notes. It was like a duel. Deep silence ...
— The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations • Julian Hawthorne
... fagot followed, but as yet so carefully had they been thrown that we could not get a shot. It appeared to me that they were dropped from above. The pile was increasing, and soon rising higher than the loopholes, prevented us from seeing any one. Presently we heard the sound of crackling, and the flames rapidly caught ...
— Afar in the Forest • W.H.G. Kingston


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