pile

[ pahyl ]

/ paɪl /

SEE MORE 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.

Nearby words

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

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 MORE SYNONYMS FOR pile ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pile-up

Saunders, who had been limping for some time, was taken out after a pile-up and Tyler took his place.
Left Tackle Thayer|Ralph Henry Barbour
There was no man up the tracks with a red flag to guard against a pile-up.
Winner Take All|Larry Evans

British Dictionary definitions for pile-up (1 of 3)

pile

/ (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 amounta 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 pilesnow piled up in the drive

(intr; foll by in, into, off, out, etc) to move in a group, esp in a hurried or disorganized mannerto 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 pile-up (2 of 3)

pile

/ (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 pile-up (3 of 3)

pile

/ (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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pile-up (1 of 5)

pile-up

"multi-vehicle crash," 1929, from verbal phrase pile up, which is from 1849 as "accumulate," 1899 as "to wreck in a heap" (see pile (v.)).

Word Origin and History for pile-up (1 of 5)

pile

n.1

"mass, heap," early 15c., originally "pillar, pier of a bridge," from Middle French pile and directly from Latin pila "stone barrier, pillar, pier" (see pillar). Sense development in Latin from "pier, harbor wall of stones," to "something heaped up." In English, sense of "heap of things" is attested from mid-15c. (the verb in this sense is recorded from mid-14c.). The meaning "large building" (late 14c.) is probably the same word.

Word Origin and History for pile-up (2 of 5)

pile

n.2

"heavy pointed beam," from Old English pil "stake," also "arrow," from Latin pilum heavy javelin of the Roman foot soldier, literally "pestle" (source of Old Norse pila, Old High German pfil, German Pfeil "arrow"), of uncertain origin.

Word Origin and History for pile-up (3 of 5)

pile

n.3

"soft, raised surface upon cloth," mid-14c., "downy plumage," from Anglo-French pyle or Middle Dutch pijl, both from Latin pilus "a hair" (source of Italian pelo, Old French pel). Phonological evidence rules out transmission of the English word via Old French cognate peil, poil. Meaning "nap upon cloth" is from 1560s.

Word Origin and History for pile-up (4 of 5)

pile

"to heap up," mid-14c.; see pile (n.1). Related: Piled; piling. Figurative verbal expression pile on "attack vigorously, attack en masse," is from 1894, American English.

Medicine definitions for pile-up

pile

[ pīl ]

n.

A hemorrhoid.

Idioms and Phrases with pile-up

pile

In addition to the idioms beginning with pile

pile into
pile up

also see:

make a bundle (pile)

pile

noun

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

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

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Nearby words

Origin of pile

Examples from the Web for pile-up

British Dictionary definitions for pile-up (1 of 3)

pile

noun

verb

Word Origin for pile

British Dictionary definitions for pile-up (2 of 3)

pile

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for pile

British Dictionary definitions for pile-up (3 of 3)

pile

noun

Word Origin for pile

Word Origin and History for pile-up (1 of 5)

pile-up

Word Origin and History for pile-up (1 of 5)

pile

Word Origin and History for pile-up (2 of 5)

pile

Word Origin and History for pile-up (3 of 5)

pile

Word Origin and History for pile-up (4 of 5)

pile

Medicine definitions for pile-up

pile

n.

Idioms and Phrases with pile-up

pile