PILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pile mean? 

• PILE (noun)
  The noun PILE has 8 senses:

1. a collection of objects laid on top of each other

2. (often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent

3. a large sum of money (especially as pay or profit)

4. fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)

5. battery consisting of voltaic cells arranged in series; the earliest electric battery devised by Volta

6. a column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure

7. the yarn (as in a rug or velvet or corduroy) that stands up from the weave

8. a nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energy

  Familiarity information: PILE used as a noun is common.

• PILE (verb)
  The verb PILE has 3 senses:

1. arrange in stacks

2. press tightly together or cram

3. place or lay as if in a pile

  Familiarity information: PILE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PILE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A collection of objects laid on top of each other

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

agglomerate; cumulation; cumulus; heap; mound; pile

Hypernyms ("pile" is a kind of...):

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pile"):

compost heap; compost pile (a heap of manure and vegetation and other organic residues that are decaying to become compost)

dunghill; midden; muckheap; muckhill (a heap of dung or refuse)

scrapheap (pile of discarded metal)

shock (a pile of sheaves of grain set on end in a field to dry; stalks of Indian corn set up in a field)

slagheap (pile of waste matter from coal mining etc)

stack (an orderly pile)

funeral pyre; pyre (wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite)

woodpile (a pile or stack of wood to be used for fuel)

stockpile (a storage pile accumulated for future use)

Derivation:

pile (place or lay as if in a pile)

pile (arrange in stacks)

pile (press tightly together or cram)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

batch; deal; flock; good deal; great deal; hatful; heap; lot; mass; mess; mickle; mint; mountain; muckle; passel; peck; pile; plenty; pot; quite a little; raft; sight; slew; spate; stack; tidy sum; wad

Context example:

a wad of money

Hypernyms ("pile" is a kind of...):

large indefinite amount; large indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pile"):

deluge; flood; inundation; torrent (an overwhelming number or amount)

haymow (a mass of hay piled up in a barn for preservation)

Derivation:

pile (press tightly together or cram)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A large sum of money (especially as pay or profit)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

big bucks; big money; bundle; megabucks; pile

Context example:

they sank megabucks into their new house

Hypernyms ("pile" is a kind of...):

money (wealth reckoned in terms of money)

Domain usage:

argot; cant; jargon; lingo; patois; slang; vernacular (a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

down; pile

Hypernyms ("pile" is a kind of...):

hair (a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pile"):

lanugo (the fine downy hair covering a human fetus; normally shed during the ninth month of gestation)

Derivation:

pilary; pilous (covered with hairs especially fine soft ones)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Battery consisting of voltaic cells arranged in series; the earliest electric battery devised by Volta

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

galvanic pile; pile; voltaic pile

Hypernyms ("pile" is a kind of...):

battery; electric battery (a device that produces electricity; may have several primary or secondary cells arranged in parallel or series)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

pile; piling; spile; stilt

Hypernyms ("pile" is a kind of...):

column; pillar ((architecture) a tall vertical cylindrical structure standing upright and used to support a structure)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pile"):

sheath pile; sheet pile; sheet piling (a pile in a row of piles driven side by side to retain earth or prevent seepage)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The yarn (as in a rug or velvet or corduroy) that stands up from the weave

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

nap; pile

Context example:

for uniform color and texture tailors cut velvet with the pile running the same direction

Hypernyms ("pile" is a kind of...):

thread; yarn (a fine cord of twisted fibers (of cotton or silk or wool or nylon etc.) used in sewing and weaving)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

atomic pile; atomic reactor; chain reactor; pile

Hypernyms ("pile" is a kind of...):

nuclear reactor; reactor ((physics) any of several kinds of apparatus that maintain and control a nuclear reaction for the production of energy or artificial elements)

• PILE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pile    ... he / she / it piles   
Past simple: piled   
Past participle: piled   
-ing form: piling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Arrange in stacks

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

heap; pile; stack

Context example:

stack your books up on the shelves

Hypernyms (to "pile" is one way to...):

arrange; set up (put into a proper or systematic order)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pile"):

rick (pile in ricks)

cord (stack in cords)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They pile their rifles on the cabinet

Also:

pile up (arrange into piles or stacks)

Derivation:

pile (a collection of objects laid on top of each other)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Press tightly together or cram

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

jam; mob; pack; pile; throng

Context example:

The crowd packed the auditorium

Hypernyms (to "pile" is one way to...):

crowd; crowd together (to gather together in large numbers)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

pile (a collection of objects laid on top of each other)

pile ((often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Place or lay as if in a pile

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The teacher piled work on the students until the parents protested

Hypernyms (to "pile" is one way to...):

lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

pile (a collection of objects laid on top of each other)

 Context examples 

He had no stamps with which to continue them on their travels, and for a week they had been piling up.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The wood-pile was very dry, for it had not rained for a month.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With planets piling up in your twelfth house of solitude, you seem to have a need to be alone more than usual so you can think, and strategize, about the year ahead.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The little girl was quite frightened when she saw the great pile of shaggy wolves, but the Tin Woodman told her all.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

When they had reached the middle of the forest, the father said: “Now, children, pile up some wood, and I will light a fire that you may not be cold.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

As he piled wood on the fire he discovered an appreciation of his own body which he had never felt before.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a discovery.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“There,” said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the top of the pile.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The asteroid appears to have a structure perhaps resembling a pile of rocks, or a "rubble pile."

(NASA announces latest progress in hunt for asteroids, NASA)

When a pile of sand is exposed to wind or water flow, it forms a dune shape and starts moving downstream with the flow.

(Sand dunes can ‘communicate’ with each other, University of Cambridge)