voltaic pile

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noun Electricity.

an early battery cell, consisting of several metal disks, each made of one of two dissimilar metals, arranged in an alternating series, and separated by pads moistened with an electrolyte.

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Also called galvanic pile, pile, Volta's pile .

Origin of voltaic pile

First recorded in 1805–15

Words nearby voltaic pile

voltaic, voltaic battery, voltaic cell, voltaic couple, voltaic electricity, voltaic pile, Voltaire, voltaism, voltameter, voltammeter, voltammetry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use voltaic pile in a sentence

What you see is a massive, well-intentioned, legal junk pile.
Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans|Philip K. Howard|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The correspondent does a stand-up next to a burning pile of heroin and gets a taste of its effect.
BBC Reporter Gets High On The Job|Jack Holmes, The Daily Beast Video|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Hitchcock leans toward me in a conspiratorial, almost lascivious, way and says, “Let's pile on the menace.”
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Pre-sizing eliminates the opportunity to pile those taters too high.
12 Thanksgiving Weight Loss Tips That Actually Work|DailyBurn|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Inside a box I could see a pile of whips, chains, ball gags, and hoods.
Whip It: Secrets of a Dominatrix|Justin Jones|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It is a lofty and richly-decorated pile of the fourteenth century; and tells of the labours and the wealth of a foreign land.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846|Various
Again the young fellow repeats his fatal "Banco," as he stakes a fresh pile of notes handed to him by the obsequious Jew.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
They soon had a large pile heaped up in the middle of the road which led through the forest.
The Nursery, July 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 1|Various
A-course, Mrs. Bridger got a nice little pile of money fer it, and paid Curry the balance she owed him.
Alec Lloyd, Cowpuncher|Eleanor Gates
Even Konnel had a small pile before him, although he seemed to be losing some of Lilac's attention to Meadows.
Fee of the Frontier|Horace Brown Fyfe

British Dictionary definitions for voltaic pile

voltaic pile

noun

an early form of battery consisting of a pile of paired plates of dissimilar metals, such as zinc and copper, each pair being separated from the next by a pad moistened with an electrolyteAlso called: pile, galvanic pile, Volta's pile

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

Scientific definitions for voltaic pile

voltaic pile

A source of electricity consisting of a number of disks that alternate between two different metals and are separated by acid-moistened pads, forming a set of galvanic cells connected in series. See more at galvanic. See Note at battery.