pile¹ / pīl/ • n. a heap of things laid or lying one on top of another: he placed the books in a neat pile. ∎ inf. a large amount of something: the growing pile of work. ∎ inf. a lot of money: he is admired for having made a pile for himself. ∎  a large imposing building or group of buildings: a Victorian Gothic pile. ∎  a series of plates of dissimilar metals laid one on another alternately to produce an electric current. ∎ dated term for nuclear reactor. ∎ archaic a funeral pyre.• v. 1. [tr.] place (things) one on top of another: she piled all the groceries on the counter. ∎  (be piled with) be stacked or loaded with: his in-box was piled high with papers. ∎  (pile up) [intr.] increase in quantity: the work has piled up. ∎  (pile something up) cause to increase in quantity: the debts he piled up. ∎  (pile something on) inf. intensify or exaggerate something for effect: you can pile on the guilt, but my heart has turned to stone.2. [intr.] (pile in/out) (of a group of people) get into or out of a vehicle in a disorganized manner: we all piled in and headed off to our mysterious destination my students piled out of three cars. ∎  (pile into) (of a vehicle) crash into: 60 cars piled into each other on I-95.PHRASES: make one's pile inf. make a lot of money.pile armssee stack arms at stack.pile it on inf. exaggerate the seriousness of a situation or of someone's behavior to increase guilt or distress.pile² • n. 1. a heavy beam or post driven vertically into the bed of a river, soft ground, etc., to support the foundations of a structure.2. Heraldry a triangular charge or ordinary formed by two lines meeting at an acute angle, usually pointing down from the top of the shield.• v. [tr.] strengthen or support (a structure) with piles.pile³ • n. the soft projecting surface of a carpet or of a fabric such as velvet, consisting of many small threads.• v. [tr.] [usu. in comb.] (-piled) furnish with a pile: a thick-piled carpet.

pile.
1. Any building with architectural pretensions, such as a castle or a country-house.

2. Mole or pier in the sea.

3. Pier e.g. of a bridge.

4. Large upright timber post hammered into marshy or uncertain ground to support a superstructure. Later piles were cylindrical or other hollow forms of iron or steel, and more recently piles are of reinforced concrete.

5. Row of rooms, hence a double-pile house is two rooms deep, with or without a corridor between them.

Pile

a disordered heap of things; a large clump or collection of things; a heap of wood or faggots; a lofty mass of buildings.

Examples : pile of dead carcasses, 1656; of clothes, 1440; of clouds, 1812; of conjectures, 1835; of faggots, 1902; of islands; of justice, 1770; of letters and packages, 1891; of money, 1876; of shot; of stones; of trees, 1854; of wealth, 1613; of weapons, 1608; of wood, 1744.

pile Timber, steel, or concrete sheet or column sunk into loose ground or cast in a borehole to carry vertical or horizontal loads and provide support under earth or water pressure.

pile1 †dart, shaft, spike OE.; pointed stake or post, esp. for driving into soft ground for support of a structure XI; (her.) charge of the form Λ XV. OE. pīl = MLG., MDu. pīl (Du. pijl), OHG. pfil (G. pfeil) — L. pīlum javelin.