pile

[ pahyl ]

/ paɪl /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR pile ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an assemblage of things laid or lying one upon the other: a pile of papers; a pile of bricks.

Informal. a large number, quantity, or amount of anything: a pile of work.

a heap of wood on which a dead body, a living person, or a sacrifice is burned; pyre.

a lofty or large building or group of buildings: the noble pile of Windsor Castle.

Informal. a large accumulation of money: They made a pile on Wall Street.

a bundle of pieces of iron ready to be welded and drawn out into bars; fagot.

reactor(def 4).

Electricity. voltaic pile.

verb (used with object), piled, pil·ing.

to lay or dispose in a pile (often followed by up): to pile up the fallen autumn leaves.

to accumulate or store (often followed by up): to pile up money; squirrels piling up nuts against the winter.

to cover or load with a pile: He piled the wagon with hay.

verb (used without object), piled, pil·ing.

to accumulate, as money, debts, evidence, etc. (usually followed by up).

Informal. to move as a group in a more or less confused, disorderly cluster: to pile off a train.

to gather, accumulate, or rise in a pile or piles (often followed by up): The snow is piling up on the roofs.

Origin of pile

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Latin pīla pillar, mole of stone

SYNONYMS FOR pile

1 collection, heap, mass, accumulation, stack, mound, batch.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR pile ON THESAURUS.COM

Words nearby pile

pilau, pilch, pilchard, pilcomayo, pilcrow, pile, pile cap, pile driver, pile into, pile shoe, pile up

Definition for piles (2 of 5)

pile ²

[ pahyl ]

/ paɪl /

noun

a cylindrical or flat member of wood, steel, concrete, etc., often tapered or pointed at the lower end, hammered vertically into soil to form part of a foundation or retaining wall.

Heraldry. an ordinary in the form of a wedge or triangle coming from one edge of the escutcheon, from the chief unless otherwise specified.

Archery. the sharp head or striking end of an arrow, usually of metal and of the form of a wedge or conical nub.

verb (used with object), piled, pil·ing.

to furnish, strengthen, or support with piles.

to drive piles into.

Origin of pile

before 1000; Middle English; Old English pīl shaft < Latin pīlum javelin

Definition for piles (3 of 5)

pile ³

[ pahyl ]

/ paɪl /

noun

hair.

soft, fine hair or down.

wool, fur, or pelage.

a fabric with a surface of upright yarns, cut or looped, as corduroy, Turkish toweling, velvet, and velveteen.

such a surface.

one of the strands in such a surface.

Origin of pile

1300–50; Middle English piles hair, plumage < Latin pilus hair; -i- short in L but long in Anglicized school pronunciation

Definition for piles (4 of 5)

pile ⁵

[ pahyl ]

/ paɪl /

noun

the lower of two dies for coining by hand.

Origin of pile

⁵

1350–1400; Middle English pyl reverse of a coin < Medieval Latin pīla, special use of Latin pīla pile¹

Definition for piles (5 of 5)

pile ⁴

[ pahyl ]

/ paɪl /

noun Usually piles.

a hemorrhoid.

the condition of having hemorrhoids.

Origin of pile

⁴

1375–1425; late Middle English pyles (plural) < Latin pilae literally, balls. See pill¹

Example sentences from the Web for piles

Piles and piles of them, suddenly somewhat devalued in my eyes.

'Lord Fraud' Gets Out of Jail, Back Into Orgies |Tom Sykes |August 26, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
“I have three piles of fundraising,” she said, pushing aside a sliced egg and avocado salad to demonstrate.

Can New York Democrat Zephyr Teachout Stop Governor Andrew Cuomo? |David Freedlander |August 18, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
On busier roads, elderly, scarved women sat by piles of potatoes and onions hoping forlornly for a sale.

As the Key Battle Looms, a Report from Ukraine's Front Lines |Jamie Dettmer |August 13, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Outside the house, some people sat on the piles of rock in front of their now exposed living rooms and bedrooms.

Gaza ‘Mass Execution’ Investigated |Jesse Rosenfeld |August 5, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

He piles the trash into the can and stands in the gutter, waiting for the light to change.

Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis |Stanley Booth |June 7, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
And sure enough he had, your Honour, in piles, as if he was telling of them.

Springhaven |R. D. Blackmore
He liked to be in a crowd,” he said, “and we might come away before the fire was set to the piles.

The Golden Grasshopper |W.H.G. Kingston
The place seems to be devoted to the making of flints, and the streets are filled with piles of the chipped fragments.

The Lands of the Saracen |Bayard Taylor
"Oh, piles of money of course; all the common councilmen have piles of money," said Spunyarn.

The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) |Charles James Wills
He had such a good sense of symmetry that his piles were always extremely neat.

Kari the Elephant |Dhan Gopal Mukerji

British Dictionary definitions for piles (1 of 4)

piles

/ (paɪlz) /

pl n

a nontechnical name for haemorrhoids

Word Origin for piles

C15: from Latin pilae balls (referring to the appearance of external piles)

British Dictionary definitions for piles (2 of 4)

pile ¹

/ (paɪl) /

noun

a collection of objects laid on top of one another or of other material stacked vertically; heap; mound

informal a large amount of money (esp in the phrase make a pile)

(often plural) informal a large amount a pile of work

a less common word for pyre

a large building or group of buildings

short for voltaic pile

physics a structure of uranium and a moderator used for producing atomic energy; nuclear reactor

metallurgy an arrangement of wrought-iron bars that are to be heated and worked into a single bar

the point of an arrow

verb

(often foll by up) to collect or be collected into or as if into a pile snow piled up in the drive

(intr; foll by in, into, off, out, etc) to move in a group, esp in a hurried or disorganized manner to pile off the bus

pile arms to prop a number of rifles together, muzzles together and upwards, butts forming the base

pile it on informal to exaggerate

Word Origin for pile

C15: via Old French from Latin pīla stone pier

British Dictionary definitions for piles (3 of 4)

pile ²

/ (paɪl) /

noun

a long column of timber, concrete, or steel that is driven into the ground to provide a foundation for a vertical load (a bearing pile) or a group of such columns to resist a horizontal load from earth or water pressure (a sheet pile)

heraldry an ordinary shaped like a wedge, usually displayed point-downwards

verb (tr)

to drive (piles) into the ground

to provide or support (a structure) with piles

Word Origin for pile

Old English pīl, from Latin pīlum

British Dictionary definitions for piles (4 of 4)

pile ³

/ (paɪl) /

noun

textiles

the yarns in a fabric that stand up or out from the weave, as in carpeting, velvet, flannel, etc
one of these yarns

soft fine hair, fur, wool, etc

Word Origin for pile

C15: from Anglo-Norman pyle, from Latin pilus hair

Medical definitions for piles (1 of 2)

piles

[ pīlz ]

pl.n.

hemorrhoid

Medical definitions for piles (2 of 2)

pile

[ pīl ]

n.

A hemorrhoid.

Idioms and Phrases with piles

pile

In addition to the idioms beginning with pile

pile into
pile up

also see:

make a bundle (pile)

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

pile

noun

verb (used with object), piled, pil·ing.

verb (used without object), piled, pil·ing.

Origin of pile

SYNONYMS FOR pile

Words nearby pile

Definition for piles (2 of 5)

noun

verb (used with object), piled, pil·ing.

Origin of pile

Definition for piles (3 of 5)

noun

Origin of pile

Definition for piles (4 of 5)

noun

Origin of pile

Definition for piles (5 of 5)

noun Usually piles.

Origin of pile

Words related to piles

Example sentences from the Web for piles

British Dictionary definitions for piles (1 of 4)

pl n

Word Origin for piles

British Dictionary definitions for piles (2 of 4)

noun

verb

Word Origin for pile

British Dictionary definitions for piles (3 of 4)

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for pile

British Dictionary definitions for piles (4 of 4)

noun

Word Origin for pile

Medical definitions for piles (1 of 2)

pl.n.

Medical definitions for piles (2 of 2)

n.

Idioms and Phrases with piles