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Search results for 'pile':

pile1 noun 1 a number of things lying on top of each other; a quantity of something in a heap or mound. 2 (a pile or piles) colloq a large quantity. 3 informal a fortune • made a pile on the horses. 4 a massive or imposing building. 5 a pyre. Also called funeral pile. 6 a nuclear reactor, originally the graphite blocks forming the moderator for the reactor. Also called atomic pile. 7 elec a vertical series of plates of two different metals arranged alternately to produce an electric current. verb (piled, piling) tr & intr (usually pile up or pile something up) to accumulate into a pile. See also pile-up. pile it on colloq to exaggerate.
ETYMOLOGY: 15c: from Latin pila a stone pier.

pile in or into something or pile off, out, etc to move in a crowd or confused bunch into or off it, etc • piled into the bus.

pile2 noun a heavy wooden shaft, stone or concrete pillar, etc driven into the ground as a support for a building, bridge, etc.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon pil, from Latin pilum javelin.

pile3 noun 1 the raised cropped threads that give a soft thick surface to carpeting, velvet, etc. Compare nap2. 2 soft fine hair, fur, wool, etc.
ETYMOLOGY: 15c: from Latin pilus hair.