a machine for driving piles, usually composed of a tall framework in which either a weight is raised and dropped on a pile head or in which a steam hammer drives the pile.
a person who operates such a machine.
a person who hits or attacks forcefully or powerfully.
Wrestling. a move whereby an opponent is turned upside down and slammed headfirst to the mat.
British Sports. a powerful stroke, hit, kick, etc.
a machine that drives piles into the ground either by repeatedly allowing a heavy weight to fall on the head of the pile or by using a steam hammer
informal a forceful punch or kick
First recorded in 1765–75
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When engineers watched the lander’s video footage of its attempt to deploy the mole, they realized something was wrong: the 16-inch-long pile driver was hammering away, but wasn’t getting anywhere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
Perforated pipes encircle the pile driver, blowing a wall of air bubbles that absorb and refract the noise, reducing it by as much as 15 dB.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 23, 2021
In 1870, Seattle selects its first mayor: Henry Atkins, a pile driver who helped build docks and wharves on Puget Sound.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 11, 2016
Early on, John Roberts—who was thought at least to be suggestible on the question on whether Texas has standing to bring suit—performs a pile driver on Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2016
Then the water hit him, in the side; it was like the blow of a pile driver.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
Rooke threw off the Russian with an elbow, giving the defender a black eye, and hit a pile-driver from 25 yards that flew past Khomich.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2020
In the second round he made an astonishing save in stoppage time to push clear a 35-metre pile-driver by Colombia’s Mateus Uribe that was heading for the top corner.
From Reuters ● Jul. 7, 2018
After intermission, Franz Welser-Möst led a pile-driver account of Shostakovich’s hysterical, apocalyptic Fourth Symphony.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 14, 2016
It's a dead-cert for the Goal of the Month competition and will push Marco Reus's pile-driver against Greece at the Euros all the way for the Goal of the Year prize, too.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 5, 2012
They took two dugout canoes, lashed them together, put a bamboo deck across, set their pile-driver on the deck and turned to again.
From The U-boat hunters by Connolly, James B. (James Brendan)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
