Pile /(pīl)/

Pile

n.
  1. A hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton, and the like; also, the nap when thick or heavy, as of carpeting and velvet.
    Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile.
  2. A covering of hair or fur. (Zool.)

Pile

n.
  1. The head of an arrow or spear. [Obs.]

Pile

n.
  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.
  2. One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost. (Her.)

Phrases & Compounds
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
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
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.

Pile

v. t.
  1. To drive piles into; to fill with piles; to strengthen with piles.

Phrases & Compounds
To sheet-pile
to make sheet piling in or around. See Sheet piling, under 2nd Piling.

Pile

n.
  1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap; as, a pile of stones; a pile of wood.
  2. A mass formed in layers; as, a pile of shot.
  3. A funeral pile; a pyre.
  4. A large building, or mass of buildings.
    The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight.
  5. Same as Fagot, n., 2. (Iron Manuf.)
  6. 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. (Elec.)
  7. The reverse of a coin. See Reverse.

Phrases & Compounds
Cross and pile
See under Cross.
Dry pile
See under Dry.

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.
    The labor of an age in piled stones.
  2. To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.

Phrases & Compounds
To pile arms
to place three guns together so that they may stand upright, supporting each other; to stack arms.