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.
“I don’t understand why it is like this all day,” Yesenia Diaz shouted, as a pile driver pounded foundations into the tan earth a few hundred feet away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2021
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
At first blush, then, the only unpredictable thing about the opening track of Dacus’ new Historian is what a pile driver of a breakup song it is.
From Slate ● Mar. 7, 2018
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
Then the water hit him, in the side; it was like the blow of a pile driver.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
Scott Bain had to tip wide a dangerous Blair Spittal pile-driver towards the near post, and Tony Andreu headed over from the corner.
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2021
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
On this occasion he showed the poise and balance of a ballerina, nimbly dancing past three Estonia defenders before unleashing a pile-driver with his right foot.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 9, 2015
Yanking his arms free, he dragged off his belted jacket and flung it on the ground; on the jacket, with a pile-driver sweep of his arm, he drove down his cap.
From Joan of Arc of the North Woods by Day, Holman
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.
