pile

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: heapmoundagglomeratecumulationcumulusbatchdealflockgood dealgreat dealhatfullot

WordNet 3.0

Noun (8)

  1. a collection of objects laid on top of each otherSynonyms: heapmoundagglomeratecumulationcumulus
  2. (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent“a batch of letters”“a deal of trouble”“a lot of money”“he made a mint on the stock market”“see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos”“it must have cost plenty”“a slew of journalists”“a wad of money”Synonyms: batchdealflockgood dealgreat dealhatfulheaplotmassmessmicklemintmountainmucklepasselpeckplentypotquite a littleraftsightslewspatestacktidy sumwad
  3. a large sum of money (especially as pay or profit)“she made a bundle selling real estate”“they sank megabucks into their new house”Synonyms: bundlebig bucksmegabucksbig money
  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)Synonyms: down
  5. battery consisting of voltaic cells arranged in series; the earliest electric battery devised by VoltaSynonyms: voltaic pilegalvanic pile
  6. a column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structureSynonyms: spilepilingstilt
  7. the yarn (as in a rug or velvet or corduroy) that stands up from the weave“for uniform color and texture tailors cut velvet with the pile running the same direction”Synonyms: nap
  8. a nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energySynonyms: atomic pileatomic reactorchain reactor

Verb (3)

  1. arrange in stacks“heap firewood around the fireplace”“stack your books up on the shelves”Synonyms: stackheap
  2. press tightly together or cram“The crowd packed the auditorium”Synonyms: throngmobpackjam
  3. place or lay as if in a pile“The teacher piled work on the students until the parents protested”
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Pile \Pile\, n. [L. pilum javelin. See Pile a stake.] The head of an arrow or spear. [Obs.] --Chapman. [1913 Webster]
Pile \Pile\, n. [AS. p[imac]l arrow, stake, L. pilum javelin; but cf. also L. pila pillar.]

1.A large stake, or piece of timber, pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc. [1913 Webster]

Note: Tubular iron piles are now much used. [1913 Webster]

2.[Cf. F. pile.] (Her.) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost. [1913 Webster]

Pile bridge, a bridge of which the roadway is supported on piles.

Pile cap, a beam resting upon and connecting the heads of piles.

Pile driver, or Pile engine, an apparatus for driving down piles, consisting usually of a high frame, with suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile.

Pile dwelling. See Lake dwelling, under Lake.

Pile plank (Hydraul. Eng.), a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling, under Piling.

Pneumatic pile. See under Pneumatic.

Screw pile, one with a screw at the lower end, and sunk by rotation aided by pressure. [1913 Webster]

Pile \Pile\, n. [L. pilus hair. Cf. Peruke.]

1.A hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton, and the like; also, the nap when thick or heavy, as of carpeting and velvet. [1913 Webster]

Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile.— Cowper.[1913 Webster]

2.(Zool.) A covering of hair or fur. [1913 Webster]

Pile \Pile\, v. t. To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles. [1913 Webster]

To sheet-pile, to make sheet piling in or around. See Sheet piling, under 2nd Piling. [1913 Webster]

Pile \Pile\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Piled; p. pr. & vb. n. Piling.]

1.To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate; to amass; -- often with up; as, to pile up wood. "Hills piled on hills." --Dryden. "Life piled on life." --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

The labor of an age in piled stones.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

2.To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load. [1913 Webster]

To pile arms To pile muskets (Mil.), to place three guns together so that they may stand upright, supporting each other; to stack arms. [1913 Webster] Pileate

Pile \Pile\, n. [F. pile, L. pila a pillar, a pier or mole of stone. Cf. Pillar.]

1.A mass of things heaped together; a heap; as, a pile of stones; a pile of wood. [1913 Webster]

2.A mass formed in layers; as, a pile of shot. [1913 Webster]

3.A funeral pile; a pyre. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

4.A large building, or mass of buildings. [1913 Webster]

The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

5.(Iron Manuf.) Same as Fagot, n., 2. [1913 Webster]

6.(Elec.) A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; -- commonly called Volta's pile, voltaic pile, or galvanic pile. [1913 Webster]

Note: The term is sometimes applied to other forms of apparatus designed to produce a current of electricity, or as synonymous with battery; as, for instance, to an apparatus for generating a current of electricity by the action of heat, usually called a thermopile. [1913 Webster]

7.[F. pile pile, an engraved die, L. pila a pillar.] The reverse of a coin. See Reverse. [1913 Webster]

Cross and pile. See under Cross.

Dry pile. See under Dry. [1913 Webster]

Piles \Piles\, n. pl. [L. pila a ball. Cf. Pill a medicine.] (Med.) The small, troublesome tumors or swellings about the anus and lower part of the rectum which are technically called hemorrhoids. See Hemorrhoids.

Note: [The singular pile is sometimes used.] [1913 Webster]

Blind piles, hemorrhoids which do not bleed. [1913 Webster]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

PILE

1.Polytechnic's Instructional Language for Educators. Similar in use to an enhanced PILOT, but structurally more like Pascal with Awk-like associative arrays (optionally stored on disk). Distributed to about 50 sites by Initial Teaching Alphabet Foundation for Apple II and CP/M.

["A Universal Computer Aided Instruction System," Henry G. Dietz & Ronald J Juels, Proc Natl Educ Computing Conf '83, pp.279-282].

2.<language, music> ["PILE _ A Language for Sound Synthesis", P. Berg, Computer Music Journal 3.1, 1979].

(1999-06-04)

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